I did not take up celery juice because it sounded appealing. A mate of mine swore it had sorted his digestion out and I thought he was talking nonsense, so I tried it for a fortnight to prove him wrong. He was more right than I wanted him to be. The catch is that plain celery juice tastes like a lawn with a salt problem, and no amount of willpower makes that nice. That is where the other three come in. Two sharp green apples give it something to actually taste of, the ginger keeps it from sliding into squash territory, and half a lemon stops the whole thing going brown before you have finished the glass. Ten minutes and one juicer basket, and it is the drink I reach for the morning after a heavy weekend when my stomach is bloated and I want something clean.
Why these ingredients work
Celery is about 95% water, which is really the honest headline here. It also carries its own sodium and potassium, and that is why this juice tastes faintly savoury even with two apples in it. Celery contains apigenin, a flavonoid that gets a lot of attention in the research, though you should treat the loud claims about it with some suspicion. Ginger is the one I would defend hardest. Gingerols are the compounds behind the heat, and they are genuinely useful for nausea and for getting the stomach moving, which is why it earns its place here rather than being a flavour afterthought. Green apple does the balancing, sharp enough to cut through the celery without turning the glass sweet. Be honest with yourself about the fibre, though. Juicing sends most of it out with the pulp, so the pectin argument people make for apple juice is weaker than it sounds. If fibre is the point for you, blend it and do not strain it.
FAQ
Can I make this in a blender instead of a juicer?
Yes, and I often do because there is less to wash up. Chop everything, add about 150ml cold water, blend on high for a full 60 seconds, then push it through a nut milk bag or a fine sieve. Squeeze the pulp properly rather than letting it drip, because celery holds more juice than you would guess. The blender version comes out thicker and cloudier than the juicer version, and if you leave it unstrained it drinks like a thin smoothie with around 4g of fibre per glass instead of under 2g.
Why did my juice turn brown?
Green apple browns quickly once it meets air, and the lemon is the only thing in the glass slowing that down, so do not skip it. Drink within ten minutes if you can, or keep it in a sealed glass bottle in the fridge and get through it inside 24 hours. It separates as it sits, which is completely normal, so give the glass a swirl before you start.
Is celery juice really good for you, or is that just the internet?
Somewhere in the middle, and anyone telling you it cures something is selling something. What it genuinely is: a low calorie glass of fluid with potassium, plus vitamin C from the lemon and a bit of vitamin K from the greens, at around 108 kcal and 16g of sugar per serving. That is a fair trade for a drink that tastes this fresh. It is not a treatment, it does not detox your liver in any special way, and celery is naturally higher in sodium than most vegetables, so do not add salt and go easy on salty food for the rest of the day. One glass is plenty.
More detox recipes: see the full Detox collection.
Celery Apple Ginger Juice
Equipment
- 1 Juicer masticating or centrifugal
- 1 High-speed blender for the blender method
- 1 Nut milk bag or fine-mesh sieve to strain the blender version
- 2 Airtight glass bottles for storing a batch
- 1 Budget cold press juicer the cheaper option if you are just starting out
- 1 Budget blender works fine here, just strain it a little harder
Ingredients
- 6 sticks celery about a whole head, roughly 350g, leaves trimmed off
- 2 green apples Granny Smith or any sharp green apple, cored and quartered
- 15 g fresh ginger about a 4cm piece, peeled
- 1/2 lemon peeled, white pith left behind, added last
Instructions
Juicer method
- Wash the celery properly. It grows in sandy soil and grit hides between the ribs, so give each stick a rub under cold water before it goes anywhere near the machine. Trim the leafy tops off and keep them for a stock.
- Cut the celery sticks into lengths that fit your chute, core and quarter the apples, and peel the ginger with the edge of a teaspoon. The spoon takes the skin off without shaving away half the root.
- Feed the celery through first. It is the wettest of the four and it primes the basket, so the apple and ginger move through instead of clogging it. Then alternate the apple, ginger and lemon.
- Stir the juice, pour it straight into two glasses and drink it while it is cold. It separates within about fifteen minutes, which is normal, so give the glass a swirl before you start.
Blender method
- Chop the celery and apples into rough chunks and put them in the blender with the peeled ginger, the peeled lemon and 150ml cold water. Celery is mostly water anyway, so you do not need much.
- Blend on high for a full 60 seconds. You want the celery completely broken down with no strings left, or the straining step turns into a wrestling match.
- Tip it through a nut milk bag or a fine sieve set over a jug. Press the pulp with the back of a spoon and then squeeze the bag properly, because celery pulp holds more juice than you would expect.
- Pour into two glasses. The blender version comes out slightly thicker and cloudier than the juicer version. If you would rather keep the fibre, skip the straining and drink it as a thin smoothie.