Drinks

Juice and Smoothie Guides: Ingredients, Methods and Storage

Juicing removes the fibre and keeps the liquid. Blending keeps everything and breaks it down. That single difference explains most of what separates the two glasses.

A juicer separates liquid from pulp, producing something thin, bright, and quick to drink. A blender keeps the whole fruit or vegetable and shears it into a suspension, which is why a smoothie is thick and why it holds together longer.

Both are perishable in ways that packaged drinks are not, and both change noticeably within minutes of being made. How each process works therefore decides how the result has to be handled.

Yield is where the two machines separate, and it depends on the produce. Leafy greens give up very little in a centrifugal juicer and a great deal under a press, while carrots and apples yield well either way.

Both drinks change within minutes of being made.

Juice separates and dulls as it oxidises, and a smoothie thickens as the fibre in it takes up liquid.

Thickness in a smoothie is a texture target rather than a recipe. Frozen fruit and the amount of liquid decide it, and a bowl needs to hold a topping where a glass needs to pour.

Order in the jug decides whether the blend works at all. Liquid at the bottom, soft items above it and frozen on top gives the blades something to circulate.

Sweetness in a juice comes from the produce and cannot be turned down afterwards. That is worth knowing before a glass is built entirely from fruit.

Juice and Smoothie Guides to Start With

What the machine does to the fruit, and why two glasses of the same fruit behave nothing alike.

What Is Cold-Pressed Juice? From Pressing to Bottle

Cold pressing describes how juice leaves the produce: the fruit or vegetables are crushed, then squeezed under...

Cold berry smoothie circulating in a clear blender jar with chilled fruit and ice nearby

Why Does My Blender Make Smoothies Warm? What the Heat Means

If your smoothie comes out warmer than the ingredients that went in, the blender has not secretly switched to a heating...

Fresh green smoothie beside baby spinach, mature kale, citrus, and measured powder ingredients

Why Does My Green Smoothie Taste Bitter? Find the Ingredient

A bitter green smoothie rarely needs more of everything sweet. Find out whether the bitterness is leafy, citrus-like...

A whole head of pale green celery beside a tall glass of cloudy yellow-green juice

What Is Celery Juice? Flavour, Pulp, and Fresh-Juice Safety

Celery juice is the liquid pressed from celery stalks after most pulp and insoluble fibre have been removed. It tastes...

More Juice and Smoothie Guides

A tall glass of deep purple berry smoothie beside fresh raspberries and blueberries

What Is a Berry Smoothie, and What Makes It Thick?

A berry smoothie keeps the fruit in the glass, including the pulp, skins and most seeds. Frozen berries can chill and...

A tall glass of bright green smoothie beside spinach leaves and a halved banana

What Is a Green Smoothie, and How Should It Taste?

A green smoothie keeps the blended greens in the glass, so leaf choice affects flavour and texture as much as the fruit...

A scoop of pale protein powder beside frozen berries, a banana and a jug of milk on pale stone

What Is a Protein Smoothie? Why the Powder Thickens Everything

Protein powder is a fine, thirsty solid that thickens whatever it lands in. Nearly every complaint about these drinks...

A spoon standing upright in a thick pink smoothie bowl with a drawn line holding its edge

What Is a Smoothie Bowl? A Drink Built to a Texture Target

A smoothie bowl is defined by a texture target: thick enough to hold a topping on its surface. That target works...

A glass of cloudy apple juice beside whole apples on a pale stone surface

What Is Apple Juice? Clear or Cloudy, and Why It Matters

Apple juice can be transparent and crisp or cloudy and full-bodied, even when both bottles begin with the same fruit...

A glass of bright orange carrot juice beside whole carrots and pulp

What Is Carrot Juice? The Vegetable That Juices Best

Carrots juice better than almost any vegetable: dense, low in fibre relative to their water, and sweet enough to drink...

A glass of green juice beside kale, cucumber, celery and a green apple

What Is Green Juice, and Why Do Leaves Yield So Little?

Green juice is the liquid pressed from leafy greens and vegetables after most of the pulp has been separated. Cucumber...

A glass of orange juice beside halved oranges on a pale stone surface

What Is Orange Juice? Several Products Under One Name

Freshly squeezed, not from concentrate, and reconstituted orange juice can all be 100 per cent juice, yet they do not...