green smoothies go commercial...?

Hi I have the feeling the world's not quite ready yet to replace all the drinks in vending machines with bottled green stuff but..... I always check the fridges in stores/cafes/delis to see if green smoothies have gone into production and gone mainstream. Yesterday I found my first sort of green one at a local supermarket.


Charlie's Honest Smoothie- Spirulina and Fruit. 


In the bottle
pressed apples 69% mashed bananas 15% squeezed oranges 10% pulped kiwifruit 5% dried spirulina 0.3% and vitamin C.


Taste test
Honestly? Really fruity... they don't label this as a GREEN smoothie and it's not because it only has 0.3% greens so yes green in colour- but really light on the greens heavy on the fruit  and tasted like mashed banana. My verdict is yes buy the 300ml $3.49 if you're out and need a quick healthy fruit hit- but I'd be buying the litre bottle to add to green smoothies as the liquid base for more greens only for the convenience factor-- chuck in more greens like baby spinach and maybe some lemon juice to balance out the taste and chia -easy, tasty, fast and out the door....


Charlie's are a NZ company- http://www.charlies.co.nz/index.html?#products/Smoothies and are available for fundraising in NZ- great idea and healthy alternative to the neverending stream of boxes of chocolate for sale!

On the definitely more green side re variety of ingredients a friend in Melbourne told me about an Emma and Toms LifeJuice GreenPower drink. Emma and Tom have an interesting story- childhood friends who left the corporate world to form this Australian company- they were inspired by overseas juice companies use of whole fruit in their juices. Watch their story/interview on Sky News Business Channel and YouTube- http://www.emmaandtom.com/news.html
http://www.emmaandtom.com/range.html 


Emma and Toms LifeJuice GreenPower drink
In the bottle
On the front of the bottle- apple banana passionfruit plum and lemon with all natural green botanicals-no added sugar no concentrates nothing artificial- and on the back- apple juice 60% banana puree 14% passionfruit pulp 12% plum puree 12% lemon juice 1% spirulina chlorella alfalfa kelp spinach stinging nettle dulse seaweed.

Taste test
Really tart- tangy passionfruit is the overriding taste here and it's not as thick as Charlie's. Once again great to buy if you want a quick sort of green hit when out and as an alternative to plain fruit juice-also to add to your green smoothie.


They sell mainly to the cafe deli market and a year ago they had 3000 outlets. The Freedom Cafe here sell their Wellbeing Water range. I found some GreenPower today at an IGA in the city- 350 ml bottles- 


Production techniques from the website. "Emma and Tom’s whole fruit smoothies are the tastiest fruit juices on the market, and provide more vitamins and minerals than regular juices as they have added functional botanicals such as spirulina for extra iron, stinging nettle to cleanse the body and grape seed extract for an antioxidant boost.
Unlike many hot-filled, stewed fruit juices on the Australian market, Emma and Tom’s whole fruit smoothies are flash pasteurised and cold filled. In order to ensure a bacteria-free product the juice is quickly heated for 10 seconds then reduced back to 4 degrees where it stays refrigerated until our customers pick it up from the fridge of their favourite café (just like milk)."

Nudie Juice-Green Crushie also Australian. 


In the bottle
apple/ plum/ kiwi passionfruit/ lemon...and a 1.1% (they call it a dash!) of spirulina, green tea, wheatgrass and passionflower-so once again heavy on the fruit like the previous two brands and really light on the greens.

Taste test I haven't tried this one-I've only seen their fruit ones...maybe buyers are thinking ergghhh green- no one's going to buy this! 

So the question is- is there a market for bottled commercial green smoothies like we're making? eg the real deal- REAL green smoothies and not just bottled greeny coloured pureed fruit with a tiny percentage of greens...and would they sell? These commercial green juices are a long way from homemade green smoothies but are great to grab when you're out IF you can find them and also to add to your green smoothie. 
They might be useful too to make green smoothies a bit more acceptable in the mainstream and increase their popularity.  But in the end... 

fresh is always best of course- here's Jane's Honest Green Power Superfood Smoothie I made today- blend the usual base- 8 ice blocks/cup and 1/2 water/1 orange/juice 2 lemons plus skin of half/ ginger- add greens- I used sorrel, Russian kale, celery, cucumber and blend up to 5-6 cup level then add frozen banana, 2 medjool dates,1 kiwi,1 apple, 2 tbs ground chia---enjoy!


Here's something else I also discovered recently- driving past the National Gallery of Australia one night and they were projecting work from the collection on the outside walls...love greens in all shapes and forms...