This summer Local Green’s tried something a little different at the Lambeth Country Show, we came, we saw (thousands of you), and we pressed our veg in collaboration with Katie & Becky at The Local Squeeze. Et voila tasty, thirst quenching juice bottles for all to enjoy! Following on from series one in our summer blog series we’re moving from dressings to juices. Leafy green vegetables are a health-food trend that simply won’t quit and here’s 4 good reasons why:
1. There are a range of nutrients present in dark green vegetables, the ones we're always being told to eat more of – kale for instance is packed with beta-carotene, calcium, vitamin C and vitamin K.
2. Green juices contain much less sugar than their fruity counterparts.
3. Fresh green juice and traditional vegetable drinks use a cold-press technique, where the juice is extracted by a method of crushing and pressing this method retains nutrients.
4. Vegetable juice is particularly well known for its high level of vitamin C; in some cases, a single glass of vegetable juice can provide your entire daily recommendation for ascorbic acid, giving a major boost to the immune system, as vitamin C will stimulate the production of white blood cells. The immune system is further supported by the actions of other antioxidants, like lycopene, which will prevent oxidative stress and chronic disease.
You can thank us later, but for now here's a green juice to get you going in the morning!
Gwyneth Paltrow juice recipes: Best Green Juice. Just about as energising as a cup of coffee with none of the let-down, green juice is an incredibly healthy, invigorating way to start your day. Kale is full of calcium and antioxidants and just about everything else. When juiced with a bit of lemon, apple and ginger and a tiny hit of refreshing mint, it turns into a sort of grassy lemonade. No worries if you don't have a juicer: a blender and a strainer do the trick. Serves one.
5 large leaves of kale or chard, ribs discarded, leaves roughly chopped
1 lemon, zest and pith removed
1 large apple, roughly chopped
A 2.5cm piece of fresh ginger
1 sprig of fresh mint
Push all the ingredients through your juicer. Alternatively, you can chop all the ingredients and pop them into a powerful blender with 120ml of water, then pass the mixture through a fine-mesh strainer and drink immediately.