Bananas are one of the best fruits you can eat, being huge contributors of Potassium which is pretty essential for people who have more of an active lifestyle (witness numerous sports drinks that are supposed to replace the potassium lost when exercising heavily). So it seems like a natural fit for healthy juicing. But hold on there! Bananas are actually one of those “unjuiceables” that don’t go over so well in the juicemaker.

The main problem with trying to juice bananas is that they don’t actually produce much juice at all. In addition, the banana bits tends to stick to blades and other internal parts of the juicemaker. If you try to juice bananas (unless you have some sort of special juicer or method) you’ll probably end up with one big clumpy mess in your juicemaker.

Well, the good news is that if you have a blender handy, you can still add delicious and nutritious banana puree to your juicing concoctions! Many people will balk at having to use a juicemaker AND a blender, but it can make some really delicious drinks. Places like Jamba Juice and other juice stops use banana all the time in drinks.

The idea is to cut or break up a peeled banana and put it in the blender BUT don’t blend it just yet. Now, juice your other fruits and veggies in your juicemaker. When that’s done, pour the resulting juice into the blender with your banana and blend it. The blended banana tends to add a “thicker” consistency to the overall juice which can be a nice change from thinner juices. You can also make great desserts using this technique by using more banana or partially freezing the mixture before serving it up.

Juicing Buddies: Unjuiceable, but puree goes with Strawberry
Vitamins and minerals: Potassium, Vitamin A, B complex, C, E