immortality potion
For clarity: this is indeed a "green juice"... but isn't potion so much more fun to say?
Parsley may not render you immortal, per se... but it's a pretty powerful plant ally where some common maladies are concerned. Conversations with a scientist friend, confirmed by some googling about, revealed that these little leaves are packed with myricetin, which may prevent cancer, diabetes, and reduce inflammation; super-antioxidant chlorophyll, and bone-protecting vitamin K. Personally, I have always enjoyed the flavor; as a little one, I used to sneak parsley out of my mom's herb garden and nibble it while reading in my tree house. (I was born in chipmunk mode...)
I am a fan of Italian (flat-leaf) parsley; I find that it produces slightly more juice than curly parsley... and look how pretty those leaves are, too. Thank you for all you do, nourishing little leaves.
While juicing can be a great way to pack the strong nutritional punch of literal bunches of vegetables, be warned that juices -- even the most well-intentioned green juices -- can end up as de facto sugar bombs. To keep a juice low on glycemic load, emphasize low-sugar vegetables, roots, and herbs, and be especially cautious with fruits. For juicing, I personally stick to small amounts of citrus for flavor. While I do occasionally add low-sugar fruits to smoothies, juicing removes almost all of the plant's fiber, intensifying the glycemic impact. So, the hippie adage holds true: eat your fruits, juice your veggies.
I think this juice is delicious for any day, but with the ginger content, it is especially soothing when a cold feels to be coming on... and with only five uncomplicated ingredients, the recipe is about as easy-breezy as it gets.
RECIPE: Parsley Immortality Juice
(makes about 10 fl. oz.)
INGREDIENTS:
- 2 tightly-packed cups of fresh parsley, stems included
- 3 tightly-packed cups of kale, baby kale, or spinach
- 1 large cucumber with the ends cut off
- 1/6th of a large, juicy lemon (peel intact)
- 2 (2 inch wide, 1 inch thick or equivalent) pieces of unpeeled ginger root (TIP: for ease of peeling and maximum juice extraction, I recommend freezing ginger root and then reheating it by microwave or stovetop steaming)
METHOD:
Process the ingredients, one at a time, through your centrifugal or cold-press juicer, taking care to adjust your juicer speed to suit each different ingredient. Serve immediately, and as always, with love.
☼ VLGL
