Juice!

Even the best intentioned of us can have trouble fitting in our daily requirements of fruits and vegetables. Pippa Cuthbert and Lindsay Cameron Wilson's exuberant book Juice! can go a long (and delicious) way to change that. The exclamation poin at the end of the title is important, for this is more than a compellation of recipes - it's a celebration of juice. The 110+ recipes are accompanied by photographs to beautiful that even the cucumber juice mixes looks tempting. Additionally, each recipe has a perfectly thought up one-word description, such as "quenching", "nutty", "fresh", "tart," or my favorite-- "decadent." The book is also packed with information about juicing, the ingredients, and their nutrients. The recipes are divided into six chapters, based on taking advantage of each concoctions properties (energizing versus calming, for instance): Seven am: Wake-up call Twelve pm: Hunger Three pm: Energizers Five pm: Cocktail Hour Nine pm: Evening Relaxers Cleansers Juice! is for everyone, but because of all its helpful suggestions and range of recipes, from the simple to the extravagant, it would be particularly helpful to beginning juicers. And you will need a juicer. While some of the recipes can be made with a blender, most require more. Don't worry if you don't have one already - the book provides buying suggestions. But you should at least be planning to buy a juicer to take advantage of the book. Even then, you might not want to take full advantage. All cookbooks have recipes that are just not tempting, and Juice! is no exception. While most are creamy delicious drink calling for oranges or passion fruit or watermelon; there are also some with main ingredients like beetroots, spinach, or radish. There are also some rare ingredients that, while they might inspire you to stretch your culinary horizons, might also be a challenge finding them at your local grocery store. The amazing thing about Juice! however, is that it makes everything sound and look so good, that you might just be tempted to drink what was previously unimaginable. The other problem with Juice! is that while all the recipes conveniently make one 8-ounce serving of juice (which you can easily double, triple, or quadruple as the case may be), they are not necessarily convenient to make - particularly in the morning, when many of us are rushed for time. Juice is most pleasurable freshly made, which means that many of the "wake-up calls" will have to wait for Sunday brunch. Despite that, Juice! is absolutely worth owning.