As well as the important
juicing and blending equipment, there are a few
kitchen basics that are invaluable when it comes to
making smoothies and juices.
Cherry Pitter
If you're juicing or blending cherries, you will
need to remove the stones first, and even though you
can do this by hand with a tiny knife, it’s much
quicker to use a special cherry pitter. You just fit
the cherry into the cup of the cherry pitter and
then squeeze the handles together to draw a bar
through the cherry and eject the stone through the
other side.
Chopping Board
You'll require a great, sturdy chopping board for
cutting up vegetables and fruit- either for pushing
through a juicer or whizzing up in a blender. Be
sure to have a separate board for chopping raw meat
and fish and one for fruit and vegetables and often
scrub the boards well after use.
Ice Cream Scoop
A sturdy ice cream scoop is ideal for scooping up
perfect balls of ice cream or sorbet to drop into
smoothies or shakes. They're designed to deal with
hard ices so you don't need to risk bending your
spoons. There are loads of different scoops in the
marketplace, from the simplest scoops on a thick
handle to ones with levers to help release the ball
of ice cream.
Knives
Ensure you have a couple of excellent, sharp knives,
which includes a big, heavy one that will deal with
chopping up large fruits like melons and pineapples.
Measuring Jug, Cups and Spoons
You'll want these to accurately measure volumes of
liquid like milk, juice, yogurt and honey as well as
dry ingredients such as spices and sugar.
Rubber Spatula
These are helpful for scraping down the sides of
food processors and blenders during blending, and
also to make sure you scrape every last drop of your
finished smoothie into the glass. After all, you
wouldn't need to waste any!
Scales
The recipes in this site use quantities of fruits
and vegetables - rather than weights - as much as
possible, but a set of weighing scales will likely
be useful for following some recipes.
Scrubbing Brush
lf you are utilizing organic fruit and vegetable,
you will not necessarily have to peel them before
juicing, but you'll need to be sure that they're
really well scrubbed to remove any dirt from their
skins.
Sieve
These are fantastic for making really smooth
smoothies by sieving out chunky fibers, skins or
pips from fruit purées. You are able to also strain
citrus juices through a sieve to remove the 'bits'
if you prefer a smooth juice.
Vegetable Peeler
A great, sturdy vegetable peeler will make quick and
efficient work of peeling root vegetables and hard
fruits like apples and pears. It'll also be handy
for removing the papery skin from fresh root ginger.