Three juice recipes from Dr Juice
Enthused about juice, we set off to the EarthFair Market in Tokai, Cape Town to speak to a man who knows his apples from his pears, Dr Juice.
Four years ago Dr Juice was the buyer of organic fruit and veg at the Ethical Co-op. He became fascinated with putting goodness back into the body and started exploring the wealth of vitamins juices have to offer. Now he’s passionate about it – he believes the nutritional benefits of raw fruit and veg are really something to shout about and, judging by the queue of people at his market stall on a Saturday morning, we don’t need much convincing.
Why drink juice?
According to Dr Juice, 1 large glass of pure, raw, fresh juice per day will help improve the immune system, increase energy, strengthen bones, clear skin and lower the risk of disease. Sounds pretty good doesn’t it? And it’s an easy way of getting quite a few of your recommended five a day.
He shared three of his favourite juices:
1. The famous Dr Juice
Ingredients for approximately 1 litre:
1 medium bulb of beetroot (raw – if it’s cooked you lose up to 75% of the good enzymes. Keep the skin on but wash the soil off. If it’s not organic, scrub well.)
2 or 3 carrots
A thumb-size portion of fresh ginger
1 big stalk of celery (take the leaves off – they make the juice bitter)
1 lemon. If the lemon is organic (and your juicer can take it), you can juice it with the skin on. Skins are actually very good for you.
Apples – these make up the majority of the 1 litre.
This is an earthy juice – a rich purple colour containing a whole spectrum of vitamins and enzymes. If you want to be even healthier, replace some of the apples with carrots. Apples are high in sugar. The celery contains good natural salt.
2. Fennelicious
Ingredients to make approximately 1 glass:
1/2 bulb of fennel, trimmed (a great source of magnesium and calcium)
3cm slice of lemon (if organic and your juicer can take it, with the skin on)
A thumb-size chunk of cucumber
Apples – to give you the extra liquid you need
An unusual juice – play around with the flavours. Remember it’s up to you – you can choose to put a far bigger chunk of cucumber or less fennel if you prefer it this way.
3. Cream of popeye smoothie (go on… watch it: I’m popeye the sailor man, I live in a caravan…)
Ingredients for approximately 1 large glass:
1/4 pineapple
2 apples
3cm slice of lemon or lime (again, rind on if juicer can take it and organic)
A thumb-sized chunk of cucumber
1/4 small avocado
A big handful of spinach or kale
You will also need a smoothie maker or blender for this one. Juice all your fruit and veg (put the spinach or kale between the apples as this will help get the juice out), except the avo. Put the juice plus the avo and four ice blocks into a blender.
We recommend you go in search of Dr Juice yourself. He is regularly at the EarthFair Market in Tokai, the City Bowl Market on Hope Street and the EarthFair Market in St George’s Mall. His real name is Eduardo and for just R20 he’ll squeeze you a cornstarch cup-full of good stuff. Happy juicing.