One of the many things we love about this time of year is pomegranates and while visiting some friends this weekend, we enjoyed ripe, backyard-grown pomegranates. I do not believe that I have ever seen pomegranates this red and ripe – so ripe that the outer skins were splitting to reveal deep red colored arils in the inside. Pomegranate arils are delicate, red fluid-filled pouches that surround individual pomegranate seeds. The juice we made with these pomegranates had a rich and smooth flavor with no trace of bitterness at all. We used some of the juice to create some recipes including this green smoothie:
½ cup of fresh pressed pomegranate juice
Juice of three medium Valencia oranges
3 medium bananas
3 cups chopped collard greens
Here is a nutrient analysis of the ingredients in this smoothie:
| Adult Daily Values | ||
| Calories | 597 | |
| Calcium | 328 | 1000 – 1200 mg |
| Iron | 1.71 | 8 – 18 mg |
| Zinc | 1.20 | 8 – 11 mg |
| Magnesium | 152.0 | 310 – 420 mg |
| Potassium | 2304.9 | 4700 mg |
| Vitamin C | 253.9 | 75 – 90 mg |
| Vitamin E | 3.32 | 15 mg |
| Vitamin B1 | 0.54 | 1.1 – 1.2 mg |
| Vitamin B2 | 0.59 | 1.1 – 1.3 mg |
| Vitamin B3 | 4.40 | 14 – 16 mg |
| Vitamin B5 | 2.71 | 5 mg |
| Vitamin B6 | 1.77 | 1.3 – 1.7 mg |
| Folate | 424.7 | 400 mcg |
| Beta carotene | 4241.4 | |
| Protein | 11.7 |
I found the calcium, potassium, magnesium, vitamin C, vitamins B1, B2, B3, B5, and B6, folate, beta carotene, and protein content of this smoothie to be impressive! Especially for almost 600 calories (kcal), which is a little more than one quarter of my calorie intake for a day when I am exercising. FYI, I am not one to count calories, but I find that I naturally consume more calories on days when I exercise than not. Since this is a high fruit smoothie, I really appreciate it pre- or post-workout. For example, late last week, I had this smoothie a couple of hours before running, and found that I had a tremendous amount of energy during my run, so much that I actually ran a couple of extra miles longer than my original plan. I felt great the next morning with almost non-existent muscle soreness, despite my longer than usual run.
For those who do not prefer such a high fruit smoothie, there are a variety of substitutions that one can make for the bananas and OJ. If you have any suggestions, we would love to hear from you. We wish you an enjoyable thanksgiving or thanksliving 🙂
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