Thursday, October 4, 2012

THE ULTIMATE HEALTH DRINK - SUGAR FREE INDIAN GOOSEBERRY JUICE


 
I have wanted to write about this particular drink since couple of months. (Delayed because I was away from blogging and took my pictures only today J).

The Amla or Indian Gooseberry (Scientific Name: Phyllanthus emblica) is one of the most researched about plant due to its highly commendable medicinal properties.

This fruit and its plant (tree actually) are scientifically proven to be effective in cancer treatment, reducing diabetics, cholesterol and even age-related diseases like arthritis. So, it isn’t surprising that Amla has been used in the age-old practise of Ayurveda for healing the body. The amla is popularly used for hair oil and also used in various herbal toothpastes.

Amla has the most unique taste ever. It’s sour when you bite, bitter when chewing and leaves a very sweet taste in mouth after you swallow it…the sweetness lingers for quite sometime...In Malayalam, its called Nellikka.
 Talking of this fruit always takes me back to childhood….those days, when my life used to revolve around my granddad- one of the most cherished men in my life….He passed away when I was 6 or 7……I still miss him, wish for his presence and the difference that would have made in our lives….I miss him on every occasion….when I got married, when my little girl was born…..always…I still travel back in time to be with him…I still remember his face like it was all yesterday……I know 6 is not an age when you realize what death means…..but I have clear memories of the day…..it was the first time I encountered someone leaving me because he was dead….lets, just let it go there…..lets, not talk about it because his loss for me is beyond words.....

Granddad was an absolute fanatic for gardening… we have so many varieties of fruits and flowers during his time. There was a huge Amla tree in our backyard. When the fruits ripen and fall to the ground, we, children would pick 'em up, washit under the garden pipes and bite-in crinkling our faces because of the sourness. One bite and we would start drinking water (again form the pipes...hehehe) because a bite of Amla and the post-sweetness in your mouth makes the water taste very sweet…. as kids, we loved doing this. Surely, I share this memory with a lot of Keralites because almost every home would have an Amla tree.

Coming to the present, being away from your homeland is a minus but being in a country where you get almost everything that you have back home is a plus plus J I am one of the lucky few with this perk! We get plenty of Amla here, imported from India of course! I love eating them raw but hubby never touches them…this is why I tried making juice from it. And the man was clean bowled J….since then its been a stapled part of the fridge.

A few words of wisdom…. irrespective of all the goodness….this juice is to be consumed in a diluted form- around 210ml of water for one medium size fruit. It’s best drunk on an empty stomach in the morning for its detoxifying and cleansing properties. Recommended serving is one glass per day. If you consume a whole bottle, like my brother did the other day, you end up in the toilet J. You can extract the concentrate and refrigerate. Make the juice with 1 tbsp for approx. a glass of water.

Please note that the Juice tastes best when served cold.

Even though the juice tastes super refreshing and is sugar free…..to fully benefit from the goodness of this fruit, I would always recommend eating them raw! Like my mom says "Good for the gums!"



Ingredients: (for 8 glasses of juice)

Amla (Gooseberry/Nellikka) – 7 or 8 medium to large size
Lemon zest- ½ tspn
Lemon- ½ sliced into thin slices
Mint leaves- 2 sprigs
Cold water- 7 cups
salt- 1 tbsp(or to taste)

Method:

1.     Discard the seeds of Amla.
2.     Dump in the flesh of Amla, lemon zest, salt and water into you mixer aka juicer.
3.     Strain the juice.
4.     Crush the mint leaves between you palm and add it with lemon pieces to the juice.
5.     Serve chilled and get healthy J



Cheers!!
Mj

25 comments:

  1. I don't know what that Gooseberry is.. but the drink looks so refreshing (maybe because of the color?)!

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  2. Amla juice looks soo refreshing! I usually make it with some curry leaves and a piece of chilli..This combination looks soo inviting. Wud love to give this a try next time i get some Amla here:-)
    And yes our place back in Kerala had two Amla trees in back yard..Missing it soo badly:-(

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  3. I love it because amla provide 3 different flavours as you mentioned, sour, bitter and then sweet. First click of this cool drink looks really good

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  4. Really it gives us 3 different flavours...sour, bitter and then sweet. First click looks awesome..

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  5. I've heard raves about gooseberry pie...now your gooseberry drink with all the health benefits! I hope to experience this fruit one day~

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  6. Love the flavors in here...Its very healthy and yummy fruit and the juice is so too...

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  7. That's an tasty looking juice.....I never tried it at home.....looks simple to make...will try....

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  8. I couldn't refrain from commenting. Well written!
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  9. I have never heard of this, it sounds very interesting, thanks for the info!! I will have to look it up and see if I can get it around here, anne

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  10. I loved reading your 'heartfelt' post from your childhood, MJ. I must admit, I have similar childhood story from Europe, when I was about that age, about the 'gooseberry!' We had a wonderful gooseberry bush, I remember clearly. Those beautiful bright green crunchy sour berries, were such gems. My mom used to make a wonderful compote with it; but beyond that, I don't recall the Gooseberry juice, which sounds so refreshing and incredibly healthy. I imagine this would be an amazing natural cleansing...so good for health purposes. Too bad we can't get gooseberry here, in S. Florida!

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  11. Oh! I really love this drink, its so nice for made this juice. Thanks.

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  12. Refreshing and delicious. Thanks for the recipe.

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  13. Great Blog!! Amla Juice is really good for health. Your thought processing is wonderful. The way you tell the thing is awesome.
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  14. someone please help me to find out the Amla juice in Melbourne. I desperately need thi juice but dont know where to find it here.

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  15. Someone please suggest me where to find out the pure Amla or pure Amla juice in Melbourne. I desperately need this juice here.

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  16. I am not a nellika fan but this one is a keeper. I am bookmarking it and waiting to see Nellika in Africa :)

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  17. Indian berry juice is believed to be the richest source of vitamin C and thus has very strong rejuvenating power. Indian berry juice having Vitamin C is one of the most common and effective anti-oxidant and can help the body to get rid of free radicals. It also helps in synthesis of collagen and enhances the immunity of the body.

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  18. The first and the foremost thing to start losing weight is to get rid of all sugary drinks from your house. Start drinking bitter gourd, gooseberry, gourd juices etc to maintain the good health. Thank you for this beautiful blog post.

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  19. The blog is unique that’s providing the nice material. Please post more interesting articles here.iherb coupon

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  20. Hey, very nice site. I came across this on Google, and I am stoked that I did. I will definitely be coming back here more often. Wish I could add to the conversation and bring a bit more to the table, but am just taking in as much info as I can at the moment. Thanks for sharing.
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  21. amla juice is available in all indian grocey stores.

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  22. This is really very nice idea you have shared through this blog. It looks very test and healthy. I will definitely give it a try. Thank you so much for sharing this post. 5 hour energy drink

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  23. Nice post.I have never tried gooseberry juice earlier.But the pics you have uploaded are looking very refreshing and delicious.So I will definitely try this.Keep sharing such kind of healthy recipes in future.

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