I put two cups baby spinach, 2 large bananas, 1 cup frozen blueberries and some water (about a cup) and blended it in my non-Vitamix. I brought it to the university and started drinking it (about 30 minutes after blending) and it has thickened into glop. Not very appealing texture. I drank over half of the mason jar (holds 3 cups). Is it because I used water instead of some liquid with fat in it, like a nut mylk? I have to make stuff that is portable and will keep longing than half an hour!

LOL- "longer," I meant. Sheesh, they don't give much of a window for editing on here, do they?

banana who Wrote:
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> LOL- "longer," I meant. Sheesh, they don't give
> much of a window for editing on here, do they?


We've all been a victim of the "short edit window", lol!

As for your smoothie; they will congeal if left to sit for awhile. I typically make a gallon in the morning for the day, and divide it into shaker cups. It will thicken over time; I just shake it up & all is good.

Mine are usually the consistency of a thick milkshake, as I tend to use a lot of ingredients, usually more than you mentioned. I don't really think the blender is an issue, as I have a high speed blender and it happens to me.

The blender just makes everything "silky smooth", as in everything totally liquefied, no small bits of produce left...

I also use ice cubes instead of water, as the smoothie tastes much better (to me) if it is ice cold.

Plus aren't blueberries a natural thickener?

Blueberries contain a rather high amount of fruit pectin, the fiber in the other ingredients can also help firm things up a little bit... But I believe in this case its mostly the blueberries at fault here, as mine gets the same if I leave part of it in the fridge, although I just partially freeze it then its almost like a gelato...

Aha! The blueberries are to blame! I thought it might be the bananas because they have lots of soluable fiber, no? Oh well, maybe I just need to shake things up.

the bananas help, but the congealed kinda effect is one of those wonderful things about blueberries... love blueberries you can make blueberry jam easily without having to use any pectin,lol

Just a suggestion.. If you're going to do that regularly, why not just get one of those portable blender cups? Look into the "Magic Bullet" where you basically put your ingredients in your cup and then flip the cup over onto the blender when you're ready to drink. It's small enough to put in a bag and take with you. The cups come in different sizes.
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Or you can also find mixers that are hand held and battery operated. I've seen them at Whole Foods for around $5. You could just re-blend when you're ready to drink. This one is a "VitaMinder"
Not sure how well that would work for re-blending smoothies. it's usually used for powdered drinks.



Edited 3 time(s). Last edit at 06/26/2010 04:29AM by BackAgain.

It's the blueberries; use less next time and add more liquid : )

Definately the blueberries, I made a wonderful raspberry torte and thought I'd do the same with the blue but ugh, the results were less than splendid. Those berries aren't very nice blended I'm afraid. I only use a small amount of them in smoothies, a handful is enough between the 3 of us.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 06/26/2010 06:14PM by coco.

I still have the rest of it sitting in the fridge. I am not so excited about it anymore. I have had this happen when I blended frozen papaya and vanilla soymilk. I am thinking that fruit in general will congeal and lose their appealing texture if you don't drink them fast enough. Or keep them cold? Perhaps that is also important.

most fruit wont congeal, most fruit doesnt have enough pectin to do so, but it really doesnt take much, heres the list of fruits with greatest pectin content...
apples, 1–1.5%

apricot, 1%

cherries, 0.4%

oranges 0.5–3.5%

carrots approx. 1.4%

citrus peels, 30%

And then bluberries, at only 0.3%

This is by fresh weight, about a half a cup.

I find all smoothies congeal after a while though. Not as much as blueberries do but enough that I don't want to drink it. I have them fresh or not at all.

Yeah...I guess I have to slurp 'em down quickly!

yeah, most green smoothies will Ive noticed, Ive made pure fruit smoothies with strawberries and bananas that didnt congeal...hmmm, well the freezing partially option works for me when leftover smoothie congeals to much for my taste... its a yummy treat, and takes awhile to eat, would probably work much better in Popsicle molds

when this happens i just add more water and stir it up. no biggie.

The Raw Lion 440 pounds to 225 pounds!

I just tried smoothies in popsicle molds earlier tonight (made them last night) total win!!!...its awesome so leftover green smoothie, makes an awesome popsicle... it had the consistency of one of those whole fruit bars you can buy in the store...

Curator: Too bad I didn't think of that! I could have frozen the rest of my congealed drink and maybe it would taste better frozen. It's been sitting in my fridge for a few days now so I think I'll just dump it.

well, theres always next time... I only thought of it cause I used to love those whole fruit pops you can get at the store... its pretty delicious, does anyone know if short term freezing, like a day or two, is harmful to the nutrients in the green/fruit smoothie? cause if not...I may want to switch half my green smoothie consumption to frozen form,LOL... it makes an awesome dessert...

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