The Differences Between a Juice and a Smoothie

We have touched on this topic before from a health benefits perspective but there is still some misunderstanding about the difference between making a juice and a smoothie.

Some of you may think the answer is plain and simple; a juice is made from a juicer and a smoothie is made in a blender! Right? Right! But still I hear the terms being mixed up and it may be just a little thing but I think it’s important to understand the correct term for what you are consuming and I think I know where the confusion comes from.

I believe the misconception is coming from that a smoothie is the same as a milk shake or a thick shake and therefore must have a milk base when in fact a smoothie does not need to contain any dairy and can be solely produced from fruit and/or vegetables with any non-dairy base.

Here are a few good examples of non-dairy options that can be used to make a smoothie:

• Filtered Water
• Coconut Water
• Coconut Milk
• Almond Milk
• Soy Milk

The term smoothie comes from the smooth property of the emulsion and not the content of the emulsion and can have the appearance of a milk shake. When I searched for the term ‘smoothie’ the definition read:

… is a blended and sometimes sweetened beverage made from fresh fruit (fruit smoothie) and in special cases can contain chocolate or peanut butter. In addition to fruit, many smoothies include crushed ice, frozen fruit, honey or contain syrup and ice ingredients. They have a milkshake-like consistency that is thicker than slush drinks. They can also contain milk, yogurt or ice cream.

A blended drink (smoothie) containing fruit, vegetables and a non-dairy base can give the appearance and taste of a juice however depending on the quality of your blender you will get a varying degree of pulp in your smoothie. A quality high speed blender will pulverise your produce to a consistency that replicates that of a juice with little amount of pulp. A cheaper blender will not have the power to produce a fine and smooth consistency and will produce a smoothie with predominately large amounts of pulp.

A cheaper juicer may also give you a similar result to that of a smoothie if it is a machine that produces a lot of pulp. A quality slow juicer will give you a smooth consistency without the pulp, or with little pulp.

Whatever your choice of drink is, both a juice and smoothie have individual health benefits and are a great asset to improving your health and wellbeing.

Written by Juice and Blend of www.juiceandblend.com.au
At Juice and Blend, we are passionate about the benefits of Juicing and Blending. Juicing and Blending while both quite different, they are both a great way to gain additional nutritional value from fresh fruits and vegetables. We started this business af