If you’re a huge Harry Potter enthusiast (like me), you’ve probably always wondered what pumpkin juice tastes like. I also love to make my own juices, so one day several years ago, after rereading Harry Potter and The Half-Blood Price for the (I lost count) time, I tried juicing an actual pumpkin, hoping it would turn out to be some kind of delicious delight. Keep in mind, this was at the height of my introduction to raw food, so I was determined to make it work with raw pumpkin and tenacity.
Don’t try it. Raw pumpkins are hard. Not only was the pumpkin terribly difficult to cut into small enough pieces to fit in my masticating juicer, but it immediately clogged my juicer. At the end of this two-hour long ordeal of trying to force the raw pumpkin pieces that I had so painstakingly cut through the juicer chute, I ended up with effectively nothing in my juice cup.
Over the years, I’ve softened up on being a raw food purist, but since I love pumpkin pie (and pumpkin brownies, bread, and pretty much everything else pumpkin), I still wanted to try pumpkin juice. So, after some Google searches and a bit of experimentation, I came to this recipe. It’s more of a juice blend, but it’s nice. I hope you enjoy it!
Serves 4.
You will need:
4 cups Apple Cider or fresh Apple Juice (make the latter yourself, if you can)
½ cup Pumpkin Puree (you can make this fresh or buy it canned)
3 tsbp. Maple Syrup
¼ cup Pumpkin Chai Spice, very strongly brewed
1 tsp. Vanilla Extract (optional)
For hot: Blend all ingredients (with freshly-brewed Pumpkin Chai Spice tea) in a blender. Pour into mugs and serve.
For cold: Cool Pumpkin Chai Spice, then blend all ingredients. Chill the blend in the blender jar in the refrigerator, then when ready to serve, blend on low for a few seconds until the mixture is uniform. Strain if desired, and serve.