Pieday Friday – Using herbs in juicing + mojito juice recipe

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I think you can probably guess from my recipe posts this year that I’m getting into juicing. I’d love to say that it’s because I’ve decided to live a more healthy lifestyle and want to reinvigorate my body, but that’s not really the reason. It’s as simple as ‘I don’t like fruit’. Sure, berries and dried fruits are fine with me; I’ll pop a handful on my soaked oats in the morning and get a little dose of goodness that way. But ‘proper’ fruits, y’know, the ones you have to chew (apples, pears, pineapple, peaches, oranges, plums etc) I just don’t like. I think it’s the texture that puts me off. I don’t mind the flavour of these fruits but I don’t like to eat them. Actually, that’s a bit of a lie. If you cook them, I’m quite happy. Apple pie? Yum! Stewed plums and custard? Yes please! ANY fruits in a crumble? Mmmm! But that’s not a healthy way to eat fruit, is it? With added sugar and a dollop of ice cream on the side, you can see why I enjoy cooked fruits so much. So my solution to get some much-needed vitamins into my body is juicing.

I’m happy to guzzle down juice all day long, but who knows what goes into the cartons you buy in the supermarket? I’d rather see the whole fruit go into the juicer and lovely fresh juice come out so that I know what I’m drinking, and I know that it’s good for me. I’ve been inspired by the #ExperienceFresh campaign and want to eat more raw and organic foods as a result.

This week, the thought pinged into my head that I haven’t tried juicing herbs yet. How much of difference would a sprig of herbs make to my usual fruit juice combinations? I didn’t even know if it was possible to juice herbs but why not give it a go, eh? I bought myself a bunch of fresh mint, a lime and some fruit and started feed them into my Panasonic slow juicer.

This bright green juice recipe calls for 1 apple, 1 pear, about 1/3 of a cucumber and a quarter of a lime. It was at this point that added my favourite herb into the mix. I only needed about three sprigs of mint to get a minty-freshness that turned a fairly ‘normal’ fruit juice into a mojito-esque mocktail. Can you imagine how delicious it was??

But that’s not the only herb you could use in juicing. Why not add a touch of basil to a virgin bloody mary juice? Or pop some lemon thyme into a tropical mix? Parsley works great with a savoury green juices and fennel fronds add a touch of licorice.

I can’t express to you just how much I LOVE this juice recipe. I tried to pace myself while sipping the juice but it was so moreish that it had gone within a minute or two. I’ve had it a couple of times since – it’s totally addictive if you like that minty mojito flavour! But, then again, why not have loads of this juice when it’s so good for you, eh? Bring it on.
By the way, I know it’s a bit rubbish that I haven’t managed to make a pie during British Pie Week but I don’t have a kitchen at the moment – is that a good enough excuse? However, I’ve made plenty of pies here on the blog in the past (hence the Pieday Friday category!) so here’s the recipe for one of my favourites: Steak and Ale Pie. Enjoy!

Have a great weekend everyone, and please let me know how you use herbs in your juice recipes – I’d love to try out more variations. Leave me a comment below with your tips or tweet me @cassiefairy.

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