The perfect squeeze

All you sleazeballs, STOP right now and go wash your minds. This is a clean and simple post about making juices at home.

Yes, that is my latest passion, thanks to Amma. For some months now Amma has taken to making fresh juice at home, primarily beet juice for herself. 'I used to hate beetroot as a kid, you know' she tells me with elan. Well, apparently she has hated almost the entire vegetable family, as does my dad- just as vehemently with the fruit family thrown in for good measure. Now, there are two conclusions that can be drawn here. One, Hallelujah, we've finally found the one bonding factor in the union of the two poles! Two, is it a shocker that their off springs have such a hard time taking to fruits and vegetables?

Anyhoo, Amma has concluded the best way to get beetroot into her system is by making a juice of it. Seren has procured a small and cute juicer for this purpose and with utmost dedication and diligence, Amma makes beetroot and pomegranate juice with a dash of brown sugar(for fiber or protein or some such nutritious value, she would like to insist). Ever since she made the first glass of this concoction for me(this happens in the evening btw), I've been hooked.

So one morning, on our vegetable market trip, Seren and I decided to mix it up a bit. We got some oranges, kiwi and chickoo along with the standard fare beet and pomegranate. When we declared our wares, Amma's face didn't exactly gleam. Come 6pm, I was handed a glass of a brown-hued drink- your sapota juice she declared wanly.

'What about you?' I ask. 'I'll make my beet+pomegranate juice' she said in sotto voice and slid away. 'Hmmm, daal mein kuchch kaala hai' signals go off in my head. Within minutes she is back with her glass and as we clink and drink, she looks at my glass and goes 'How could you like sapota juice? I've never taken to the fruit, you know!'. Sigh.

So, when I got back to the US of A, I ordered myself a good decent juicer after reading 100s of reviews on Amazon and finally landing on one whose bad reviews didn't far outnumber the good ones(that's the way to pick an appliance on Amazon by the way. If one were to read all the reviews of all the appliances, one could never get to buying anything).

As I unpacked the contraption, I realized the piece looked bigger than I expected and had more parts than my mixie. It took me a few days to understand how to piece the parts together and operate. Then it took me another week to finally 'plan' my juice mix. The recipe booklet that came along with the appliance said my first launch should be of orange, beetroot and carrot. Awesome! That'd make Amma proud, I figured.

Day 1 : It took me 10 minutes to bring the parts to one piece. Another 10 minutes later it was whirring convincingly. Then came the master stroke. I added the ingredients and in the jar was a mixture of purple and orange with a grand total of purple fluid. The beet had won. I whipped in a tablespoon of brown sugar, and finally it purred to a halt.

In my excitement to indulge in the freshness of my creation, the latch on the appliance was hastily taken off. With a light thud, the pieces had come apart and I had purple spots on my favorite Gap jeans and on the hardwood floor. Sigh!

Day 2 : Rinse, lather repeat. Follow the same steps as day 1 till you get to the 'purred to a halt'.

Again, in my excitement, [no it wasn't the latch this time, I'd learnt THAT lesson], I ejected the juice jug and as I poured the purple concoction into a tall glass- I tilted the jug too far. The lid came out and I had purple juice all over my counter and dripping over the cabinet doors and right to the floor. Here we go again!

Day 3 and onwards: Well, by now I had realized that this thing is not exactly one can take lightly. Its not like throwing something into your microwave and walking away. It needed TLC, it was like one of those high-maintenance fashionistas. I lovingly followed the procedure and patted it often and used it gently. All was good. I've been producing glass after glass with relatively few mishaps.

My next mix is going to be apple, peach and grapefuit, wish me luck!

Unfortunately I don't find chickoo that often in our farmer's market. But you know I'll be having that soon enough, much to Amma's chagrin, don't you?