Blending Beautifully

I’ve recently gotten into making fruit smoothies, which have proven to not only be filling, but also damn tasty (These smoothies are making me talk weirdly). It all started on my last day in Jamaica a couple of weeks ago. I was at my Uncle Burnett’s house in Montego Bay, and we were getting ready to leave for the airport when he asked me if I wanted a smoothie. I’ve recently embraced the “Try most things once” motto, so I decided to have a glass. Once I put my lips to the glass my taste buds were met with some funky flavors. At first I thought my taste buds and the funky flavors were going to battle it out, but they ended up being friends and I immediately fell in love with the smoothie. I told my uncle that it was good, and he said that it contained mangoes, oranges, bananas, protein powder, and a Jamaican fruit called Naseberry (Which is actually native to Central and South America). I asked for another glass and he proceeded to pour me some of his man-made, but definitely heavenly, nectar.

After about a week of being home back in America, I decided to put my mom’s blender to some use. I unpeeled an orange and threw that in, I unpeeled an unripe banana and threw that in, I put a red delicious apple in, and I topped it off by pouring some orange juice on that crazy concoction. To say the least, it banged hard. It was a little chunkier than it was funkier but I got down with it. My brother David said that it should be smoother since it’s a “Smoothie,” and that I should never put any unripe fruits (like the banana that I put in) in a smoothie. I then realized that my blender was set to puree instead of blend, and that I should have also added a couple of ice cubes in order to make that smoothie a little cooler.

After making a couple more smoothies, I’ve finally created the perfect smoothie containing a perfect balance of oranges, apples, bananas, and ice. I’ll probably start experimenting with some other kinds of smoothies once the wonderful Sonia (My mother) finds the time to do some grocery shopping. Like I said before, Smoothies are incredibly filling and amazingly healthy depending on what you put in them. They’re a damn meal! I just realized that from drinking my smoothie, I basically ate two oranges, two bananas, an apple and two ice cubes (No wonder some people just live off of blending fruits and vegetables). I feel full and healthy, and I’m sure that smoothies are also a great way to lose weight for all of you who are into that.

Here’s a little background on smoothies that I took from Wikipedia:

Health food stores of the West coast of the United States began selling pureed fruit drinks in the 1930s based on recipes that originated in Brazil.^[1] The 1940s-era Waring “Blendor” cookbooks published recipes for a “banana smoothie” and a “pineapple smoothee.” The name “smoothee” or “smoothie” was used by books, magazines, and newspapers for a product made in blenders. In the early 1970s the co-founder of Smoothie King, Stephen Kuhnau, began selling blended fruit drinks under the name “smoothie”. However, Kuhnau admits that he, “…didn’t invent the word smoothie”; instead, he states that the term dates back to the “fruit and fruit juice based drinks made by the Hippies” in the late 1960s. In the 1980s, the increasing popularity of sports and fitness led to the marketing of supplement-fortified health food products. During this time, the first, “specialized juice and smoothie bars” opened. By the 2000s, the “juice and smoothie industry [was] a multi-billion dollar industry.”^[2]

Let me know if you start to blend your own smoothies or if you have tips on how to make a better smoothie. Blend beautifully.

Check this video of me blending, not so beautifully.