Carrot Juice

When I was younger, I ate tons of carrots. One of my best friends in high school, Amy, lived half a block down the street, and her mom bought those giant five pound bags of baby carrots. When the two of us were feeling sixteen-year-old I'm-so-ugly-and-nobody-loves-or-understands-me angst, we'd sit and talk/cry/whine over the bag of carrots, sometimes eating all of it in just a few sittings.


Now, I hardly ever eat them. I like them cooked (especially with a little butter and dill), and I like them raw, but carrot aren't favorite vegetables. Not one of those veggies that I think of for a side dish or a snack. But I stumbled across an article last week about the health benefits of carrot juice, so I decided to make some.

I don't have a juicer, but I found a good way to make it without one: I bought a two-pound bag of carrots, chopped it all up in the blender, and then poured three cups of hot water over the chopped up carrots. I let the orangey mush sit for twenty minutes, then strained out the carrot chunks, using a spoon to smash the carrots on the sieve to get as much juice as possible. Then I poured three more cups of water over the carrots and did it again. For the two pounds of carrots I got two quarts of carrot juice, which is way more than I expected. I added the juice of three oranges, which was just enough to brighten the carrot flavor, but not cover it up at all.

Luke described it as "surprisingly refreshing," and even more surprisingly, he's going to start drinking it regularly, too (usually I can't get him to drink anything that's not caffeinated).

So I definitely recommend making carrot juice this way. From what I've been seeing online, you get more carrot juice this way than with a juicer. And it's a few dollars for a half gallon- much cheaper than if you were to buy it pre-made at the grocery store (and without any added sugars or preservatives). And plus, it just tastes good.