What came first, the milkshake or the smoothie?
Luckily, there are ways to jazz up your smoothies.
Fix your fruit with a little caramelization.Browning your foodwill develop powerful, new, delicious flavors.
Use peanut butter powder
No one can deny the allure of peanut butter.
Im not exactly a PB fanatic, but Ill admit, the stuff is good.
Try a couple scoops of peanut butter powder.
If a stray chunk of kale or string of celery requires me to chew, its all over.
Celery, my arch nemesis, has stringy fibers running along the outside.
Use a vegetable peeler to gently slice off the strings.
Spinach is relatively tender, but pulling out the central rib doesnt hurt.
Use frozen fruit as ice cubes
One thing wrecking your smoothies consistency might be the water content.
You might notice miniature puddles hovering amongst the fruit, giving your drink a broken appearance and texture.
To keep your smoothie chilled and full of flavor, try frozen fruits, or low-fat frozen yogurt.
A good smoothie shouldnt have a broken texture, even if it has a loose consistency.
Finding that perfect texture with some ingredients might be elusive if youre not incorporating a thickening ingredient.
Bananas, yogurt, kefir, nut butters, or ripe avocado are helpful and nutritious thickening ingredients.
Use jam
Fruit can bulk up a smoothie, but ripeness is a crapshoot.
The concentrated flavor of the jam will brighten your smoothie right up.
Jam is a great trick for building flavor combinations too.
Grab seedless jam for the smoothest results.
Subpar blenders will leave bits of un-minced produce in your drink, totally ruining your silky-smooth vibes.
So assess your needs, and find the one that fits you.
Personally, Im an immersion blender babe.
Know your consistency
Smoothies should be smooth.
Know thyself and youll be able to wing it with recipes, nailing the perfect consistency time and again.
This will also help you decide the quality of blender youll need.
For juice-like thinness, add plenty of liquid ingredients.
To improve chopping and texture, only add half of the liquid ingredients first.
Blend until the fruit and vegetable fibers are smooth, then slowly add in the rest of your liquid.
Alow dose of saltcan reduce notes of bitterness, and lift those of sweet, sour, and umami.
Peanut butter, chocolate, and caramel smoothies all pair well with a salty edge.
Switch up the liquid
Water and milk arent the only choices.
Use your liquid ingredient as a flavor opportunity.
To add a bit of creaminess and smooth out the texture,try a splash of half & half.
