JULY FOOD OF THE MONTH: FRESH JUICE

• Taste: Sweet, astringent, bitter, or sour (depending on the ingredients used)

• Temperature: Mostly cooling unless using a heating fruit such as cherries

• Post-Digestive Effect: Reducing (due to its light nature)

• Dosha: Vata & Pitta pacifying

• Qualities:  Light, Moist

• Basic instruction: Blend fresh fruit or veggies in a blender with water and then strain the pulp through a fine mesh strainer - read more below!

• Season: Best to enjoy juices in the late Spring, Summer, and Fall. Avoid at night and during the winter months

Juice! July is the month where the weather is really heating up - so it is time for some cooling fresh fruit juices.

Fresh juice is incredibly easy to make. I understand the convenience of going to a store, picking out the juice you want, then drinking it. But it takes 5 minutes to make most juices at home and the taste of fresh juice is just way way way better than non-fresh. You will see.

You can make juice out of many different plants. It is one of the 5 main plant preparations in Ayurveda for herbs (fresh juice, paste, decoctions, hot infusions, cold infusions). Some plants to think about juicing are - aloe, cilantro, ginger, wheatgrass, lemon, lime, and fresh fruit.

The process for making juice is simple. You have a couple of options. You can crush the plant with a large mortar and pestle and then strain it through a cloth. OR if you want less physical work - you can blend it with or without water (depending on how juicy the plant is) and then strain it through a cloth or fine mesh strainer. If a plant is hard and not super juicy, you can heat it up in a little water to soften, then extract the juice.

But, we will keep it simple here and work with fresh summer fruit juices. Each having their own medicinal properties depending on what is being used. Generally speaking, most fruit juices will have an affinity for the lymphatic tissue. Either building the lymphatic tissue if using juicy fruits or cleansing the lymphatic tissue if using greens.

Try out these simple juice recipes!

GRAPE JUICE

WHEATGRASS JUICE

WATERMELON JUICE