Homemade Juices for Summer

LEMON GINGER

The favorite homemade juice recipes, especially come summer time. The lemons and limes give you a serious boost of vitamin C, not to mention a lovely, refreshing zing wonderfully complemented by the ginger. And you get all the sweetness you need from the apple and the grapes. The whole juice is just lovely!

Ingredients:
handful of grapes
1 apple, cored and sliced
½ inch fresh ginger (less if you find the taste too strong)
1/2 lime
1/4 lemon
sparkling mineral water

Directions:
Remove the grapes from the stem. Juice the apple and ginger together, then juice the rest of the fruit. Pour the juice in a large glass and fill to the top with sparkling water and serve with ice.

Dragon Fruit

The Dragon fruit can weigh from 150 to 600 grams. To prepare a pitaya for consumption, the fruit is cut open to expose the flesh. The Dragon Fruit texture is sometimes likened to that of the kiwifruit due to the presence of black crunchy seeds. It can eaten raw, is mildly sweet and low in calories, fruit should not be used to accompany strong-tasting food, except to 'Clean the palate'between dishes. These seeds can be eaten with the flesh, however they are hard to digest unless chewed. We can convert the fruit into juice or wine, or used to flavour the beverages.

Pomegranate

Pomegranate is native from Iran to the Himalayas in northern India and was cultivated and naturalized over the whole Mediterranean region since ancient times. According the  LA Times recently labelled pomegranate as ‘one of the most trendiest and versatile fruit on the market', and it could be good for you (another fruit sold for its ‘medical values'). Packed with antioxidants, pomegranate juice is now on the red carpet, and even the stars at the Oscars drink the dark red liquid.

Urucu

We can find the Urucu plant (Bixa orellana) around every rural household in the Amazon. Achiote (Bixa orellana) is a shrub or small tree from the tropical region of the Americas. Which is cultivated there and in Southeast Asia, where it was introduced by the Spanish. It is best known as the source of the natural pigment annatto, produced from the fruit.

Buddha's hand

Ever heard of a Fingered Citron? How about a Buddha's Hand? It's a weird -looking citrus that has green or rich yellow tapering fingers or segments attached to a base – the appearance is not unlike a curled, arthritic hand, only there are usually many more than 5 fingers! But what on earth do you do with a Buddha's Hand? Do you eat it? Well, yes, and no. Its thick, lemony rind and pith (the white part) is often candied into a delicious citrus delicacy, infused with spirits or made into liqueurs. However, the small amount of inside flesh is quite sour and rarely used in food. The Buddha's Hand and other members of the Citron family are also prized for their aromatic citrus oils and used in perfumes and sometimes kept in homes as a natural air .

Ackee

Ackee is Jamaica's national fruit. The fruit was imported to Jamaica from West Africa (probably on a slave ship) before 1778. Since then it has become a major feature of various Caribbean cuisines, and is also cultivated in tropical and subtropical areas elsewhere around the world. The fruit of the ackee is not edible in its entirety. Only the inner, fleshy yellow arils are consumed. It is extremely poisonous in the very center if you eat the red bits.

Star Fruit

The Star fruit is tropical fruit that is gaining popularity in the United States. This fruit acquired its name from the five pointed star shape when cut across the middle of the fruit. It has a waxy, golden yellow to green color skin with a complicated flavor combination that includes plums, pineapples, Peech, Oranges, Grape fruit & Lemons. This is rich in Vitamin C.

Rambutan

Rambutan the strangest looking fruit in Malay, Indonesian, and Filipino literally means hairy, caused by the 'hair' that covers this fruit. On the outside it's magenta with green hairy legs all over it & from the outside you'd have no idea what to expect on the inside. Inside it's similar to a lychee fruit. It looks sort of clear and gummy. It's very watery and has a huge seed in the center. It tastes pretty decent, but it's the look of the ramputan that puts it in the top ten.

Kiwano

Kiwano

This is also called African horned cucumber or kiwano, is an annual vine in the cucumber and melon family. It's well known by its nickname in the southeastern United States - blowfish fruit - it is grown for its fruit, which looks like an oval melon with horn-like spines. it has a yellow-orange skin and a lime green jelly-like flesh. The horned melon is native to Africa, and it is now grown in California, Chile, Australia and New Zealand as well.