If you’re making a green smoothie in your Vitamix, you have a lot of options.
- Kale or spinach?
- Frozen fruit or fresh?
- Seeds or nuts?
- Ice? Milk? Yogurt? Juice?
Well, no matter what type of green smoothie you make, there are a few steps you should ALWAYS follow.
In this video, Chef Carolyne from the Culinary Exploration Center in Solon, Ohio, shows me a few things that ensure you get the perfect blend every time:
- Proper loading technique
- Ramping up and ramping down the variable speed
- What to watch for when it’s blending
- What you can do when you see the vortex
I hope you find this useful and enjoyable to watch.
Good things,
Lenny
Video
Mentioned within
A version of this smoothie on my website two years ago
Standard Model, Commonly known as a Vitamix 5200
Tampers
Life is NOYOKE
It looks like these were whole flax seeds – so no need to grind them ahead of time! Is that right?
You want ground flaxseeds for the highest nutritional benefits. If they went in earlier they would be splattered all along the walls of the Vitamix instead of ground and incorporated into the smoothie.
HI Lenny,
Can you please explain why the flax seeds didn’t go in at the beginning with the other ingredients?
When you put them in last, they get pulled down into the middle. Makes them less likely to get stuck on the walls of the container and thus easier to clean! 🙂
You want ground flaxseeds for the highest nutritional benefits. If they went in earlier they would be splattered all along the walls of the Vitamix instead of ground and incorporated into the smoothie.
Hi Lenny!
I just bought the Vitamix 7500 and I’m eagerly awaiting our delivery! I understand this model makes piping hot soups in 6-7 minutes on the highest settings…then I thought to myself- should I be concerned that even at lower speeds it could be heating my smoothies enough to cause nutrients loss? Have you heard anything to this effect? Thanks for the help!
Hi Zee,
Good question. 🙂
It’s a time-spent thing. A frozen banana blended for 30 seconds makes banana ice cream. Another minute makes a banana smoothie. And for 5 more minutes, you get hot banana soup.
Thanks for the video! I am a day and 2 blends old to the vitamix family. After looking at this video, I am certain I was timid with ramping up to high speed and waited a few seconds on variable 5, maybe because the container twists a little on the base when I did that. I made a typical green smoothie, following all the instructions in the cook book that came with my Explorian 310. I ended up with a smooth but quite a frothy drink, which was tasty, but can you suggest a way to avoid that frothiness?!
I watched a ton of Life is Noyoke videos before making a purchase, you guys are doing a great job! Thank you.
Yum! I totally appreciate this video though I’m pretty sure I’d choose spinach over kale 🙂 Thanks!
I thought about changing my name to Lenny Kale, but also prefer spinach, so decided to stick with Lenny Gale. 🙂