Green smoothies with kombucha

Kombucha promotes your well-being. In several articles, we have already reported how the ingredients of the fermented tea drink can support your gut health, your beauty, and your acid-base balance. Mixed with other valuable ingredients, I would like to introduce you to a few recipes for green smoothies for even more vitality.

Smoothies, now on everyone's lips, can be the perfect breakfast, optimal snack, or a quick lunch – a delicious treat for any time of day or simply an extra boost of micronutrients to your regular meals.

What makes a green smoothie so special?

The essential and most important part of a green smoothie is the green leaves. Green plants contain all vital minerals, vitamins, and amino acids that we need to be healthy. There is much to suggest that green plants have always been a staple food for humans.

Our diet has changed significantly over time. Refined sugar, white flour, hardened fats, and many other highly processed foods displace nutrient-rich and natural products. With a smoothie, you at least have the opportunity to get all the necessary nutrients in a simple form and support your immune system in everyday life.

What's in a Green Smoothie

Essential Vitamins

Vitamins only unleash their full power in conjunction with other vital substances. A smoothie can bring these together and make them bioavailable for your body.

More Minerals Than You Might Think

Green leaves are the plant's mineral treasure chests. With daily green smoothies, you get your portion of calcium and magnesium for healthy bones and teeth.

Precious Trace Elements

Such as iron for blood formation, zinc for a good mood, phosphorus for bones, and selenium for a stable nervous system.

High-Quality Amino Acids

Not only vegans, but all of us and especially athletes, benefit from high-quality plant-based proteins.

Antioxidants That Keep You Young and Healthy

Leaves, fruits, and fruit seeds are rich in these substances, which neutralize free oxygen radicals and thus keep you young and fit.

The Mysterious Superstar Chlorophyll

The green gold in all leaves, especially in wild herbs like nettle, ground elder, dandelion, and daisies, effectively protects the body and even detoxifies it.

Healthy Dietary Fibers

Especially together with the chlorophyll in the smoothie, they cleanse the intestines, support digestion, and effectively contribute to detoxification. This provides the best basis for the healthy living cultures from kombucha to settle in your gut.

Green Roots

Keep it simple

Experiment and slowly discover your favorite ingredients. Make sure it tastes good, you can digest your smoothie well, and you feel good afterward. If you crave other ingredients and no longer fancy something, swap them out. This is also important so that you don't consume too many of the protective substances present in a plant (healthy for humans in small quantities).

The basic smoothie should ideally always contain the following ingredients – preferably all organic:

• Fruit, e.g., apple, banana, pear, mango, berries
• 1 slice of lemon or lime
• Ginger
• Leafy greens or green vegetables, e.g., spinach, leafy salads, kale, celery, nettle
• Liquid, e.g., filtered tap water, mineral water, kombucha, freshly squeezed juice

Possible extras: algae such as chlorella, nuts and spices such as hemp seeds or nut butter, turmeric, cinnamon, wild flowers or needles / leaves from trees and shrubs. Here you will find a list of ingredients that are very suitable for smoothies.

Tip: Feel free to use frozen fruit or leafy greens, such as frozen young spinach. These can be stored for a long time and still contain most micronutrients when flash-frozen.

Green Kombucha Smoothies – 3 Recipes

Green Basic Booch

Ingredients for approx. 1 liter

• 1 ripe banana
• 1 to 2 apples, depending on size
• 2 handfuls of spinach
• 1 slice of lemon, about 2 cm thick, leave the seeds in
• Ginger to taste
• Mint to taste
• 1/2 L Kombucha, homemade or Kombucha Original

Here's how to make it

1. Peel the banana and break it into coarse pieces.
2. Remove the stem from the apple. Seeds and core will be used. Cut the apple into pieces.
3. Cut off the peel from the lemon slice. You can add a little bit of it to the smoothie for flavoring. Tip: Leave the white skin around the lemon on. It contains health-promoting secondary plant compounds.
4. Put all ingredients into the blender
5. Blend all ingredients until they are as finely pureed as possible.
6. Pour into a nice glass, decorate as desired, and enjoy your smoothie.

Tip: Please make sure that the smoothie does not get too warm from prolonged blending.

Berry Booch

Berry Smoothie Recipe with Flowers

Ingredients for approx. 0.5 liter

• 1 to 2 handfuls of edible flowers, e.g., daisies, dandelions, pansies, deadnettle, forget-me-nots, cuckoo flower, wild roses
• 2 bananas
• 200 to 300 g fresh berries: raspberries, strawberries, blueberries
• 1 pinch of ground vanilla
• 200 to 300 ml Kombucha Blackcurrant, depending on how creamy you like your smoothie

Here's how to make it

1. Clean ingredients, peel or remove pulp if necessary
2. Cut into blender-friendly size.

3. Put everything in the blender and blend until smooth.

4. Enjoy wholeheartedly.

Honeybreeze Booch

Honeydew Melon Smoothie with Lemon Balm

Ingredients for approx. 650 ml

• 5 stalks of Swiss chard
• 2 sprigs of lemon balm
• ½ honeydew melon
• ½ avocado
• 1 banana
• 200 to 300 ml Kombucha Passionfruit

Here's how to make it

1. Clean ingredients and cut to blender-appropriate size.
2. Halve avocado, pit, and scoop out the flesh.
3. Place everything in the blender and blend until smooth.
4. Enjoy your honeydew melon smoothie.

Tip: Depending on the blender model, I recommend pouring the kombucha into a glass beforehand and stirring out the carbonation to avoid building up unnecessary pressure in the appliance during blending.

FAQ

Which blender do I need for a green smoothie?

It's best to seek advice. Recommended brands include: Vitamix, Nutribullet, Bianco di Puro, Wartmann Mixer

Buy a smoothie or better make it yourself?

Ready-made smoothies are:

• heated to a high temperature and therefore have fewer nutrients than fresh smoothies
• not (alkaline) raw food
• consist of processed ingredients and not whole fruits
• quite expensive, making your own is worthwhile
• not fresh
• may contain additives such as sugar, flavorings, or colorings
• often consist mostly of cheap ingredients
• are often bottled in unhealthy plastic bottles and sit on supermarket shelves for extended periods
• do not allow control over the quality and origin of ingredients
• cannot compete in taste with freshly prepared smoothies

Conclusion: It's better to make your own smoothie than to buy one! It tastes better and is definitely healthier.

What NOT to put in a Green Smoothie?

To ensure the Green Smoothie remains an alkaline and easily digestible meal, I advise against adding the following ingredients:

• Unripe fruits – these are not only bad for the body but can also completely ruin the smoothie's taste.
• Sugar additives or substitutes, in any form, including honey, thick juices, maple syrup. If your Green Smoothie isn't sweet enough, simply use perfectly ripe fruits, such as brown bananas, sweet mangoes, or Medjool dates.
• Dairy products, such as yogurt, quark, or milk. These impair the alkaline effect of the smoothie and reduce its easy digestibility. The same applies to juices and plant milk:
• Juices – Commercial fruit and vegetable juices are highly heated to allow for long storage times. Juices such as apple juice, tomato juice, orange juice, vegetable juice, and multivitamin juice.
• Plant milk / vegan milk, such as rice milk, soy milk, oat milk, and almond milk, etc.
• Oils, nuts, or seeds could hinder easy digestibility and impair the alkaline effect. Exception: If you're looking for smoothie variety, feel free to prepare your smoothie in a bowl and top it with chopped fruits, granola, berries, herbs, and superfoods like chia or hemp seeds.

Sources:

• deine-ernaehrung.de Ulrike Eder
• Book: Grüne Smoothies – Die gesunde Mini-Mahlzeit aus dem Mixer,
  Dr. Med. Christian Guth / Burkhard Hickisch, GU
• gruenesmoothies.de

Good luck with the preparation and good health!