12 February 2010

Green Smoothie Challenge: Meet Tahini


I was reading "Waste: Uncovering the Global Food Scandal" by Tristam Stuart when I prepared my second smoothie. From that book, I learned the many ways in which over half of the food produced in the world is wasted even as a billion people are undernourished and starving. A lot of waste occurs in our homes when we purchase more vegetables and produce than we can consume before it spoils.  So I was pleased to receive instructions during the Green Smoothie Challenge (at www.vegetarianhealthcoach.net) on how to freeze fruits and vegetables in preparation for making smoothies.  It was welcome information as I made a personal resolution to waste less food.


My second smoothie introduced me to tahini. Tahini is a paste made of ground hulled sesame seeds.  Somehow in my thirty-eight years of living I managed not to encounter this great source of iron, and also calcium, magnesium, Vitamin B1 and Vitamin E.  Tahini also helps to reduce cholesterol, which is one of my main health concerns.  In addition to 2 tablespoons of tahini, the smoothie included 2 apples, 1 cup spinach, 2 bananas, 2 celery stalks and 6 ice cubes.

Common sense should have told me that my blender would not be able to mix those ingredients as shown on the right. I eventually put the apples into a food processor to do a pre-chop before generating a very smooth and tasty mix.

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