How To Make A Green Smoothie Without The Bitter Flavor Of Greens
Some greens are more bitter than others. While fresh baby spinach has a delicate flavor that is easily masked by just about any fruit, other greens such as kale and dandelion are difficult to mask in a smoothie. Kale and dandelion are also much more nutritious than spinach, providing more than double the calcium and protein per cup.
Instead of holding your nose and chugging a kale/dandelion smoothie, you can use the following tips to include these green superfoods into your next smoothie without tasting them.
Hiding The Bitter Flavor Of Greens With Fruit
An apple-spinach green smoothie will taste like apple. A kale-apple smoothie will taste like kale. An apple-dandelion smoothie will be difficult to drink!
When working with bitter greens, use only the most flavorful, sweet fruit. The best two to use are pineapple and ripe banana. Pineapple helps boost the fruitiness of the smoothie while banana has a moderating effect on bitter flavors. Use both pineapple and banana together with dandelion greens for a super nutritious green smoothie that you will actually want to drink.
Berries are also a great way to mask bitter greens. Fresh, ripe strawberries are the best to use because they are bursting with rich flavor. You can also try raspberries and blueberries as well.
If you find that you can still taste the greens, add and extra 1/2 banana at a time to the smoothie until you are satisfied.
Flavor Modifications For Bitter Green Smoothies
There are some things you can do to further hide the flavor of bitter greens in a smoothie. Besides using pineapple and banana, you can add cacao (raw chocolate) powder to help moderate the flavor further. Vanilla bean (or extract) is also a great way to modify the flavor and mask unpleasant greens.
Flavored protein powders are also an option. Not only will you get an extra dose of protein, but you can find them in chocolate, vanilla or berry flavors. I recommend using hemp or rice protein powder.
An Acquired Taste
When I make a green smoothie for someone who has never had one before, I always use baby spinach. Most people would be turned off by a green smoothie made with kale or dandelion at first. I would have been if I used them in my first smoothie. After drinking green smoothies over time, I noticed that my tastes changed and bitter greens were less and less noticeable in my smoothies.
It can take a little time to acclimate to the flavor of nutritious food if you are not used to it. I remember when I first started purchasing organic cereals and granola bars years ago. They tasted bland to me at first. There was a noticeable difference in sweetness and flavor. I kept eating organic foods however, because I was committed to my health. After a couple months, I tried the non-organic cereal and granola bars I had eaten all along and they were no longer appetizing! All I could taste was the high-fructose corn syrup and processed flavor! The organic foods tasted much better.
Greens work the same way. Dandelion might taste too bitter to you now, but after eating it for a while, you’ll notice that you won’t mind the flavor and will actually enjoy it.
Build Up To Bitter Greens
Instead of packing your blender half full with dandelion or kale, try adding one handful of bitter greens with one handful of spinach and slowly increase the ratio over time. I’ve been drinking green smoothies for almost two years and even I can’t pack my blender full of kale. Instead, I might use one cup of kale and one cup of baby spinach and use extra-flavorful, ripe fruit.
Recently, I made a yummy dandelion green smoothie with pineapple, banana, cacao and vanilla rice protein powder.
Delicious Green Smoothies, Every Time!
Would you like to learn which fruits pair best with which greens? Would you like to know how to make the most delicious smoothies, even with super-bitter (but super-nutritious) greens like dandelion and kale? How about a green smoothie recipe for weight loss, energy, Monday mornings, libido, digestion, detox and more?
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Tags: dandelion, dandelion greens, Green Smoothies, kale, Nutrition
Ok tried collard greens, OJ, strawberries and banana – SOLD! Yum!
My first green smoothie was made with dandilion greens from the backyard. Took me over two hours to drink it! lol I still don’t really like the bitterness – even arugula is too bitter for me without a fruit sweetener – fresh pineapple is my favourite. Denise
I definitely agree that starting out with spinach is a good idea – mixed with berries (blueberries, blackberries, raspberries) the spinach flavor is unnoticeable.
After several years of green smoothies, I can handle massive amounts of kale no problem, but one of my recent recipes uses watermelon instead of water – it totally sweetens up the smoothie, and makes the kale flavor far less intense.
When I use dandelion greens – I try to stick to very young ones. The older ones are a little too bitter for me.
I am really interested in how green smoothies can improve a persons health I know this is true however, I have low blood suar and low throid. How can I make this diet work I am especially concerned about the low blood sugar. This issue is hardly ever brought up among raw food people
it needs to be addressed!
I very want to add more raw food without lowering my blood sugar. I also cannot exist on fruits and vegetables alone. I am willing to hear other peoples experiences and what has helped them.
Thank You