Okay. So first off, this smoothie has humbled me. This smoothie has just been one of those ‘my life has changed’ smoothies and considering I usually resist the urge to roll my eyes when food bloggers say something like that, I’ve had to rethink my position, lol.
So, why is it a big deal to me? Because I think cantaloupe is disgusting. The only reason I don’t think cantaloupe is the ‘worst’ melon is because I’ve had many different kinds of melon beyond the mainstream grocery store favorites and know that blandness is actually a common feature of most melons, who really don’t exist for taste so much as nutrition-packed hydration.
It’s an honorable purpose and I support them in it. However I will say that cantaloupe has a subversively unctuous quality that makes it lowkey repulsive in fruit salads- and this is coming from someone who willfully eats durian. For context I also abhor cooked zucchini in almost every case due to the same reason- it makes the other food around it funky.
HOWEVER- as someone recently and generously gifted with 4 farmed cantaloupes from an amazing neighbor, I refused to let that go to waste and decided to try them out in a smoothie. …Suffice it to say I’ve been drinking this smoothie once or twice a day all week. Partially because I had to to get through the melons, partially because I wanted to tweak and develop a solid recipe for it, and partially because it’s really that good.
Not a hard sell though, right? Smoothies are great. This one, however, is incredibly nutritive with one or two ingredients you don’t usually see in smoothies, and these have a great impact on how it treats your body, including collagen formation, blood sugar management and reproductive health. Read on for the deets!
Medicinal Ingredients:
Goji Berry- Goji berries are native to Asia, China most specifically, and I’ve covered their benefits here in the delicious Spicy Goji Sunrise recipe. This smoothie is somewhat similar, so I’ll skip to the unique points.
White Fungus- White Fungus, or Snow Fungus, also known as Tremella, is an incredible fungus that supplies us with a plant source for collagen, which is necessary for the healthy formation and maintenance of skin and soft tissue. I decided to add it to this recipe when looking for a source of fiber that would not alter or hide the melon’s delicate aroma; by doing so the amount of sugar you digest at any given time is slowed, lowering this smoothie’s glycemic load. If you’d like to learn more about Tremella and a really lovely way to eat it, check out this recipe for a calming purple soup.
Melon Seeds- Seeds! When making this smoothie *don’t throw out the seeds*! Additionally I’d therefore suggest buying a whole cantaloupe instead of precut chunks from the store. Pretty much all melon seeds are edible and in many cases they are even more nutritious than the seed varieties sold as snacks in the store. Edible seeds are a valuable source of vitamins and minerals I’d highly suggest adding into your diet whenever you can to make up for the fact that even a healthy plant based diet can lack necessary nutrients we should be consuming, due to the massively depleted state of the soil produce is farmed on- yes, even if it’s organic. Additionally, many plant varieties have been bred for taste in a way that lowers their nutritive qualities (vitamins and minerals often taste bitter or earthy as opposed to sweet), shifting our sense of taste over the decades. Returning these nutrients to your diet by adding in things like seeds can boost immunity, sexual and reproductive health and reduce oxidative stress (aging) in the body! These seeds offer folate, thiamine and niacin, vitamin B6 and pantothenic acid, magnesium, copper, zinc, iron, potassium, phosphorus, manganese & fatty acids as well as bringing some extra protein into the smoothie.
Read the full recipe for free on my Patreon.