Spring is one of my favorite times of the year. The weather starts to warm up, and the produce offered at the farmers market and grocery stores starts to change.
Spring produce is more colorful, vibrant, and hydrating than at other times of year, making it perfect for juicing. While fall produce is also good for juicing, it’s nice to have so many options to work with at this time of year.
By juicing and drinking your seasonal fruits and vegetables, you’re able to consume a lot more nutritious food than you’d physically be able to eat at one time. Plus, you can turbo-charge any juice’s healthiness with these popular juicing superfood add-ins.
You also break down a lot of insoluble fiber when you juice – making it easier to digest and avoiding that feeling of fullness while getting a straight shot instead, sipping down all of those vitamins, minerals, and enzymes in juice form!
Spring Produce: Perfect for Juicing
I live in Southern California, so the growing season is a little longer than in other areas, sometimes significantly longer. Things like citrus are available in winter and early spring in San Diego, but these might be available where you are, too. Strawberries are a summer fruit in some areas, but again, in California they start arriving early spring.
My best advice is to visit your local farmers market and grocery stores, take a look around, and see what is currently being promoted. Work with what you have, learn what is in season in your area, and experiment as often as you can.
If you’re also in Southern California, you can use this website to see what is growing each month.
- Beets – all varieties
- Broccoli – mainly the stems
- Cabbage – all varieties
- Carrots – all varieties
- Citrus – grapefruit, lemons, oranges, tangerines
- Dandelion Greens – not just a weed, this plant is very nutritious
- Kale – all varieties, particularly baby kale
- Lettuce – Most lettuce contains good amount of water, making it perfect for juicing
- Radishes – Start by using just a few, as they can take over the flavor
- Spinach – a great way to add more greens to your drink
- Strawberries – you can even keep the tops attached
- Swiss Chard – all varieties
In order to make these recipes successfully for their nutrient-packed benefits, you will need a juicer.
Having a blender, while this is great and very useful for other kitchen tasks, isn’t quite the same. Again, the blender-made smoothie keeps a lot of fiber from plant matter intact, making it more filling and creating more work for the body to assimilate all those nutrients.
So, while blenders and smoothies are good, I would highly suggest investing in a good quality juicer if you don’t have one already; especially if it’s the vitamins and minerals you’re after in produce. It’s a great way to stay up on good nutrition all year round!
It’s time to get juicing! All of the following springtime recipes makes two small servings.
Sweet Ruby Juice
This recipe is great for beginning juicers. The flavor is sweet, while it offers an extremely high antioxidant count.
Natural antioxidants are mostly found in fruits and vegetables. The most common ones in this recipe are vitamins A, C, and E, beta-carotene, flavonoids, and tannins.
Be sure to peel the citrus and ginger before placing them into your machine, of course – otherwise, the final product could be very bitter!
Ingredients:
- 2 large ruby red grapefruit
- 1 orange
- 1 cup strawberries
- 1 inch ginger
Instructions:
Wash and chop all ingredients. Feed ingredients one at a time through your electric juicer. Serve immediately.
Red-Tastic Juice
Drink this if you’re in need of some serious cleansing.
Beets are a great blood purifier, and are very energizing. According to a University of Exeter-led study, “Drinking beetroot juice boosts your stamina and could help you exercise for up to 16% longer,” making this a perfect drink for long distance runners, cyclists, and other endurance athletes.
If you don’t like beets, I would still encourage you to give them a try with this recipe; paired with the citrus, they don’t end up tasting quite as “earthy”!
Ingredients:
- 3 red beets
- 2 tangerines
- 3 leaves of Swiss chard
- 3 small carrots
- 1 lemon
- 1 inch ginger
- 1 inch turmeric
Instructions:
Wash and chop all ingredients. Feed ingredients one at a time through your electric juicer. Serve immediately.
For an even greener version of this recipe, try our green carrot juice. For something “similar but different,” have a taste of our apple beet carrot juice instead.
Jolly Green Juice
Greens are something we could all use more of in our diets, since they’re one of the most nutrient dense foods we consume. Most are also very affordable.
That being said, start off by using only a few cups in your juices, as they can be bitter at first. Soon, however, you’ll realize that juicing is a perfect way to take the edge off of bitter greens, and still fully enjoy all the benefits they have to offer!
And, it contains turmeric. If you have not used fresh turmeric before, you can find the fresh root in the produce section of many grocery stores.
If you have any trouble locating it, try your local Asian or Indian grocery – sometimes they will carry the fresh root as well.
Turmeric is most widely known for its use in curry dishes, however, adding it to juice will add anti-inflammatory benefits to your beverage.
For more tasty green juice recipes, take a look at this post, or try our spinach and apple variation.
Ingredients:
- 1 apple
- 2 cups spinach
- 1 small broccoli stem
- 1 handful dandelion greens
- 4 stalks of celery
- 1 lemon
- 1 inch ginger
- 1 inch turmeric
Instructions:
Wash and chop all ingredients. Feed ingredients one at a time through your electric juicer. Serve immediately.
Juicing Tips for Those who Are Short on Time
You might be thinking: juicing is just too time consuming. So I thought I would share a few tips to speed up the process, which does make it more achievable for fitting into a busy schedule.
Once you get a good routine down, it doesn’t take too long from start to finish!
The first step: find a place for your juicer on the counter to live permanently. Leaving it in your cabinet all boxed up costs you time, and you’ll likely be less motivated to use your juicer if it requires extra work just to use it.
So make some space for it on the counter – and always have it put together and ready to go.
Want to make juice in the morning as a nice on-the-go breakfast drink? I suggest you chop and wash your produce the night before, leave it in a bowl, and cover the produce with a lid or plastic wrap in the fridge.
This can create oxidation, which causes a loss of some nutrients. But if this is the only way you’re able to make time for your green drink, I say it’s worth it.
In the morning it will be ready to go, and you can put it straight into your machine!
Washing the machine at the end can also be a hassle, especially if you’re in a hurry.
I recommend giving your juicer a good rinse and light scrub before tossing it in the dish sink or dishwasher. If you leave it unwashed, it will discolor quickly and possibly even clog – which may cost you more in replacements for broken parts.
The Best Advice of All
My last piece of advice? Keep at it!
The more you juice, the faster you’ll get with it – eventually turning it into an effortless, casual part of your routine.
I hope you enjoy these recipes, and utilize all of the lovely spring produce currently growing in your area.
If you want a juicing recipe that’s a bit more summery (and vegetable-y!) give our V8-style tomato juice recipe a try.
Feel free to leave any questions you have in the comments below – we would love to hear from you about your own recipes and combos. Happy juicing!
The staff at Foodal are not medical professionals and this article should not be construed as medical advice. Foodal and Ask the Experts, LLC assume no liability for the use or misuse of the material presented above. Always consult with a medical professional before changing your diet, or using supplements or manufactured or natural medications.
Photos by Sarah Hagstrom, © Ask the Experts, LLC. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED. See our TOS for more details.
About Sarah Hagstrom
Sarah is a health food advocate and loves to spend her time whipping up something healthy and delicious in the kitchen and then sharing either on Foodal or on her own blog "The Seasonal Diet" (www.theseasonaldiet.com). She lives in Sunny San Diego with her husband, where they enjoy running on the beach and weekend adventures.
I really like your approach to recipes. Many people try to be all hardcore and make juices with very nutritious, but not very tasty fruits and vegetables, which is like taking medicine. Yes it is good for you and needed, but it is not enjoyable. By adding a strong, sweet fruit or vegetable, you can overpower the bad ( non-tasty) flavor of stuff like beets and cucumbers Great recipes.
I would really like to make my own juices. At least I wouldn’t have to worry about unwanted chemicals and sugars. Being able to have the fruits and vegetables prepared ahead of time is a good tip. I wouldn’t waste time trying to figure out what I want and prepare it.
I have a question. Is keeping the top of strawberries beneficial? I’ve searched around for answers but I get different ones each time. Personally, it doesn’t taste too bad but I don’t see the point of keeping it on if it doesn’t benefit me.
I’m not a big juice drinker mainly because I’ve always drunk sugary drinks with loads of artificial and I kind of stopped after a while because it wasn’t doing me any good but I’m sure if I make them from scratch with real fruits, it’ll be much better. Nice article!
My dad bought me a juicer a few years ago and I absolutely love it! My kids and I are still learning and playing around with flavors, but a simple favorite of my kids besides anything with berries has to be cucumber and apple.
I love putting red beets in my juices and smoothies! They make the juice such a lovely color, and you can hardly taste it when you pair them with tropical citrus fruits. Definitely going to make the Red-tastic juice… we could all use a little cleansing once in a while, plus I’ve got a bunch of swiss chard I need to get rid of before it goes bad. I love that you can make these healthy AND yummy — a lot of juice recipes (Kale and lemon juice, anyone?) don’t do that so well. 😉 Thanks for sharing!
I’m so happy to see turmeric and ginger in these recipes! I normally use ginger in my juices, but haven’t thought to use turmeric and I’m anxious to see how that turns out.
The Red-tastic recipe sounds mouth watering and is something I will definitely try. While I do enjoy the earthiness of beets, I can see how they may not be palatable in a juice, but I like the fact that I would still be able to get the nutritional benefits of them with this recipe. Thanks for the yummy ideas!
I wish where I lived had the same climate and produce selection as Southern California. Those are some interesting blends of vegetables and fruits. I guess when you are using sweet fruits like strawberries you can always sneak in some less tasty vegetables.
These juices truly seem like they would be tasty as heck! It’s hard to come up with good combinations and most of the recipes I’ve tried out have been really bitter tasting and just not the type you can swallow easily. Fruits and vegetables are good for you, but sometimes I just tend to miss the sugary drinks that make you feel all dizzy. Thank you for these! I can’t wait to try some of these out!
Normally, I’m a pretty basic person so I don’t like recipes that are too complicated – just some apples and cucumbers but these recipes seem so fun. A lot of people tell me making juices are easy, “Just add some fruits and veggies into a juicer and…BAM! Juice” But I feel like I don’t know what fruits go well together. Adding the calendar was really helpful with my grocery list planning so I know what is in season. Thanks so much!!
These combinations look good. If you get a more powerful juicer you don’t even have to peel or core most fruits. For ours we just have to chop them enough so that they fit down the chute. I find it quite easy and enjoyable to juice up fruits, veggies, and herbs. The cleaning up is that part that isn’t fun, but having fresh, healthy juice is worth the cleaning time.
Interesting point about blenders versus juicers. I have been making a smoothie most days out of fruits and veggies, but sometimes I really just want the juice and a thinner drink. It’s been a long time since I’ve had a juicer though, I feel like it’s easier to just use one appliance. What juicer do you recommend? Are there any that are easy to store? The ones I’ve had in the past were a bit clunky.
Thanks for sharing this information with us! And I agree with you at the juicer part, a blender is a nice idea but as you’ve said I feel that I’m eating more healthier if my juice is made in a juicer.
Smoothies are my favorite part of hot weather, they can be extremely refreshing, delicious and really healthy.
I think that my favorite juice is the green one, I’m usually not a fan of green vegetables/fruits but that juice it’s definetly an exception for me.
The first one sounds so tasty and refreshing. I’d like to try that one especially. It’s probably more carbs than I need, but I could have one on occasion.
The green ones sounds good to me as well. I like the addition of fruit to give it better flavor. Although, apples are really healthy too.
These would be great when I need some nourishment but don’t much feel like eating. Thanks.
Yum! They all look amazing and really refreshing for this warm weather times.
I’m actually looking forward to try the sweet ruby juice, since the ingredients are basically always on my refrigerator, but I’m actually kind of worried that the juice may end up a little bit bitter, considering how bitter the grapefruit can be, I guess that this bitterness would be somehow compensated with the other fruits, and maybe adding some sugar to it can help.
Thanks for sharing!
I absolutely fell in love with the red ruby drink.
This is definitely on my to-do-list and I am sure it will be such a great refreshment to offer friends when they come over for lunch and it is warm outside.
I love how many of these ideas incorporate turmeric, it can be a little bitter so adding it to a fresh fruity drink makes a lot of sense. Just remember to add just a pinch of black pepper to help increase the bio-availability of the curcumin, which is one of the active compounds in turmeric.
Great recipes! But I do agree with Anorexorcist that the grapefruit could end up making it too bitter and I would also use a little sugar to counteract the taste if I had to. These are really great ideas for warmer weather and they will definitely be a hit with the kids.