Everyone has seen dandelions, right? I remember being a little girl pulling the dandelion leaves from the yard and throwing them away. Now I'm paying for my dandelion greens. Funny how life works sometimes right? I once had them for free, now I have to pay for these little green babies. I managed to finally make a juice that works with dandelion. Dandelion greens are strong and bitter, so its best to mask them with something that's sweet to completely cover the taste of them, without taking away the nutrient factors. So here's what I did...
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| Dandelion Juice |
INGREDIENTS
- 3 cups of dandelion greens
- 1 large cucumber
- 4-5 apples
- 1 cup of water (for blender use only)
Makes 45 oz
Put it in your juicer ... and juice it!
No juicer? No problem! Blend in your Vitamix. Then strain through a nut milk bag or a paint strainer bag...and pour in your storage container. For detailed instructions on making juice in the blender click here.
No juicer? No problem! Blend in your Vitamix. Then strain through a nut milk bag or a paint strainer bag...and pour in your storage container. For detailed instructions on making juice in the blender click here.
You taste the melon flavor from the cucumbers but you also taste the apple flavor...and yes you do taste the dandelion. So if you don't want to taste the dandelion at all, you might want to add more apples and maybe even more cucumber.
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Some Health Benefits
Cucumbers: Cucumber peel is a good source of dietary fiber that helps
reduce constipation, and offers some protection against colon cancers
by eliminating toxic compounds from the gut. It is a very
good source
of potassium, an important intracellular electrolyte. Potassium is a
heart friendly electrolyte; helps reduce blood pressure and heart rates
by countering effects of sodium. It contains
unique
anti-oxidants in good ratios such as beta-carotene
and α-carotene, vitamin-C, vitamin-A,
zea-xanthin
and lutein.
These compounds help act as protective
scavengers against oxygen-derived free radicals and reactive oxygen
species (ROS) that play a role in aging and various disease processes. Cucumbers have
mild
diuretic property
probably due to their high water and potassium content, which helps in
checking
weight gain and high blood pressure. They are surprisingly have high amount of vitamin
K. Vitamin-K has
been found to have potential role in bone strength by promoting
osteotrophic
(bone mass building) activity. It also has established role in the
treatment of Alzheimer's
disease patients by limiting neuronal damage in their
brain.
Apples:
Delicious and crunchy, apples are popular fruits that contain an impressive list of essential nutrients,
which are required for normal growth and development and overall
nutritional well-being. The fruits are however, contain
no saturated fats or cholesterol; but rich in dietary fiber, which
helps, prevent absorption of dietary LDL cholesterol in the gut. The
dietary fibers also help protect the mucous membrane of the colon from
exposure to toxic substances by binding to cancer causing chemicals in
the colon. Apple fruit contains good
quantities of vitamin-C
and beta-carotene.
Vitamin C is a powerful natural antioxidant. Consumption of foods rich
in vitamin C helps body develop resistance against infectious agents
and scavenge harmful, pro-inflammatory free radicals from the body. Apples are rich in
antioxidant phyto-nutrients flavonoids
and polyphenols.
The
important flavonoids in apples are quercetin,
epicatechin, and procyanidin
B2. Apples are also good in tartaric acid
that
gives tart flavor to them. These compounds help body protect from
deleterious
effects of free radicals. In addition, apple fruit is a good source
of B-complex
vitamins such as riboflavin, thiamin, and pyridoxine (vitamin B-6).
Together these vitamins help as co-factors for enzymes in metabolism as
well as in various synthetic functions inside the body. Apple also contains small
amount of minerals
like potassium, phosphorus, and calcium. Potassium is an important
component of cell
and body fluids helps controlling heart rate and blood pressure; thus
counters the bad influences of sodium.
Dandelion: Fresh dandelion greens,
flower tops, and roots contain
valuable constituents that are known to have anti-oxidant, disease
preventing, and health promoting properties. Dandelion root as well as
other plant parts contains
bitter crystalline compounds Taraxacin,
and an acrid resin,
Taraxacerin. Further, the
root also contains inulin
(not insulin) and levulin.
Together, these compounds are responsible for various therapeutic
properties of the herb. Fresh dandelion herb
provides about 338% of
daily-recommended intake of
vitamin-A. Vitamin
A is an
important fat-soluble vitamin and anti-oxidant, required for
maintaining healthy mucus membranes
and skin and vision. Its
leaves are packed with numerous health benefiting flavonoids such as
carotene-β,
carotene-α, lutein, crypto-xanthin and
zea-xanthn. Consumption of
natural foods
rich
in vitamin-A and flavonoids (carotenes) helps body protect from lung
and oral cavity cancers. Zeaxanthin has photo-filtering functions and
protects retina from UV rays. The herb is good source
of
minerals like potassium,
calcium, manganese, iron, and magnesium.
Potassium is an important component of cell and body fluids, which
helps regulate heart rate and blood pressure. Iron is essential for red
blood
cell production. Manganese is used by the body as a co-factor for the
antioxidant enzyme, superoxide
dismutase. It is also rich in many
vital
vitamins including folic acid, riboflavin, pyridoxine, niacin, vitamin
-E and vitamin-C that are essential for optimum health. Vitamin-C is
a powerful natural antioxidant. Dandelion greens provide 58% of
daily-recommended levels of vitamin-C. Dandelion
is probably the
richest
herbal
sources of vitamin
K. Vitamin-K has
potential role in bone mass building by promoting osteotrophic
activity in the bones. It also has established role in the treatment of
Alzheimer's
disease patients by limiting neuronal damage in the brain. Dandelion herb contains notable
nutrients and is a great source of nutrition during winter. This humble backyard herb
provides (%of RDA/100g)-9% of dietary fiber, 19% of vitamin B-6 (pyridoxine), 20% of Riboflavin, 58% of vitamin
C, 338% of vitamin A, 649% of vitamin K, 39% of iron and 19% of calcium.
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