Beverage

Biodiversity is something you expect to find in the rainforest — not so much in a smoothie. But the diversity of beneficial microbes is what attracts consumers to kefir: a tangy, fermented and sometimes fizzy milk drink. 

While yogurt may have just two beneficial cultures, kefir can contain more than 50 strains of bacteria and yeast. This, when consumed, can increase microbial diversity and reduce inflammation in the gut. It’s also a good source of calcium, protein and minerals. Add all these benefits together, and you see why kefir is rapidly becoming a top health food trend.  

Crowning the menu at Malibu-based chain SunLife Organics is the Billion Dollar Smoothie, a blend of 16 ultra-premium ingredients that some health enthusiasts promise will nourish the body and mind. It won’t enrich the wallet, though — the Billion Dollar Smoothie costs $28. (The Million Dollar Smoothie is a comparative bargain, at $15.95.)

The $28 price tag is due to exotic ingredients like goat colostrum, adaptogenic mushrooms and silica. (Oddly, the smoothie just tastes like vanilla.) While the health benefits of ingredients like these aren’t always proven, many customers are avidly seeking out ultra-premium smoothie ingredients.

At Hamilton Beach Commercial, we build our blenders to last. And now, we may have a new record for the hardest-working HBC blender. At Doolies Coffee and Juice Bar in Sydney, a six-year-old HBH850 Summit recently clocked 138,000 cycles. That’s 63 drinks per day, on average, for six years. And it’s still going strong.

Here’s a look at how Doolies has been blending success for 20 years — plus a few surefire smoothie recipes from Down Under.

Planning a school breakfast program isn’t as simple as it once was. Schools have to come up with meals that meet new nutrition standards, can be served in classrooms or the cafeteria, can be prepared in a hurry, are easy to eat on the run and won’t make a mess. Oh, and they have to please kids’ picky palates. The solution? Smoothies. Here’s why, plus tips on how to successfully launch a school smoothie program.

Every café, restaurant, bar and resort professional knows that although no two customers are alike, there are certain types of customers who seem to walk through the door on any given day. Why not create customized smoothies for these characters? 

Is the strawberry a fruit or a vegetable?  While many speculate that it is a fruit because it has seeds, others say that the seeds of the strawberry are fruits and the body is a vegetable. Actually the strawberry is a hybrid species known as an aggregate accessory fruit, and it's loaded with Vitamin C, folate and fiber. In North America, strawberries are plentiful—they're grown in every US state and also in Canada.

How long does it take a pineapple to reach maturity? A typical pineapple takes approximately 18 months to mature.Most of the world’s pineapples don’t come from Hawaii but rather from Thailand and the Phillipines.