The art of making delicious and healthy smoothie bowls begins at the fruit and vegetable counter—learn-ing to find, choose, store, and use seasonal produce in the right way is the alpha and the omega. The crucial factor in finding the very best ingredients is using your eyes, nose, and hands, and, as far as possible, buying local.
Local markets and direct farm sales offer the freshest produce, usually at lower prices than regular stores. There are also several well-known companies that deliver fruit and vegetables directly to your door. They generally indicate the origin of their produce, the varieties they offer, and sometimes even the grower’s references. Please see the Useful websites section at the back of the book for various companies operating home delivery of fruit and vegetables in your area.
Since many conventionally grown fruits and vegetables contain residues of fungicides, pesticides, wax, and spray, it’s best to choose organic as far as possible. Besides, organic berries, fruit, and vegetables contain more vitamins, minerals, enzymes, and other nutrients than conventional ones, including higher levels of vitamin C and antioxidants.
Unless you pick fruit, berries, or vegetables from your own garden, there’s no way of knowing how conventional produce has been treated, where it’s been stored, or who has handled it—let alone whether it’s been sprayed or waxed. Even fruits with inedible skin, such as bananas, oranges, mandarins, melons, mangoes, etc. should be properly washed, because everything that settles on your hands will pass into your body when you handle the flesh of the fruit.
If buying conventional produce, the simplest way to clean it is to fill a mixing bowl with lukewarm water, squeeze the juice of a lemon or a few tablespoons of vinegar essence in it, and immerse fruit, berries, vegetables, or lettuce in the solution for five minutes. The solution will release all the dirt without the fruit etc. taking on the flavor of the lemon or vinegar. You can use a soft vegetable brush to brush and then rinse off all hard-fleshed fruits and vegetables under cold running water. Never use the vegetable brush for any other purpose and make sure you carefully wash it after use. To wash soft-fleshed produce, rub it with your hands or with the soft side of a washing-up sponge. You should only use the sponge for washing produce. Lettuce, berries, and other sensitive produce should be rinsed under cold water after being pre-soaked in the lemon juice solution. An alternative is to buy special organic product washes.
To be on the safe side, make sure you also peel conventional fruit.
Most vitamins, minerals, and enzymes are found just beneath or in the skin of fruit and vegetables. If you use organic produce, you should therefore, with a few exceptions, use the produce whole. Make sure you always peel citrus fruits (the zest has a bitter taste), all varieties of melon, banana, mango, papaya, kiwi, pineapple, and avocado. When peeling, always make sure you remove as thin a layer of the skin as possible.
The large stones of the avocado, apricot, mango, nectarine, peach, plum, and other stone fruits should be removed. It’s best also to remove seeds, like those of melons and papaya, as they affect consistency. Please note, though, that you should refrain from eating papaya in large quantities if you are, or are planning to become, pregnant—in many countries of the world papaya is used as a natural contraceptive.
The base of most smoothie bowls is made up of frozen fruits and berries. Not only do they ensure a thicker consistency, but they also provide natural sweetness and creaminess. Frozen banana, in particular, is the perfect base ingredient in a smoothie bowl as it’s very difficult to achieve the creaminess that the banana provides using other ingredients.
I generally buy large quantities of organic berries and fruits in season, usually at local farmers’ markets and farm sales. That way, I always have quality fruits in my freezer, even when they’re not available in stores.
As mentioned above, the banana is the perfect fruit for freezing. Ensuring a fine consistency, it also provides natural sweetness. I buy large quantities of organic bananas, allow them to become almost overripe, then chop them into pieces, freeze the individual pieces, and then place them in plastic freezer bags. I always have 7–8 pounds / 3–4 kg of frozen banana at home, just to be on the safe side.
To freeze berries and smaller fruits, spread them out on a tray or a plate, covered with plastic wrap, and place in the freezer. To freeze larger fruits, peel and chop them into smaller pieces before freezing. When all the berries/pieces are thoroughly frozen, tip them into an airtight plastic bag, marking the contents, quantities, and dates for convenient use at a later date.
Tip! You can also freeze your own smoothie bowl mixtures containing berries and fruits that you think work well together. Then just tip them into the blender and blend with the remaining ingredients.
To ensure you benefit fully from the flavor, consistency and, not least, the vitamins of your smoothie bowl, serve it as soon as possible after preparation.
Don’t forget: it’s fun, relaxing, and appetizing to eat really beautiful food. Serve smoothies in beautiful bowls or low glasses and garnish them with fresh or dried berries and fruits, nuts, seeds, herbs, edible flowers, and other fancy garnishes. I hope my images will inspire you to come up with your own garnishing ideas.
