I first juiced cauliflower because I had half a head left over and could not face another tray of roast florets. It turned out to be one of the better accidents in the kitchen. Cauliflower on its own is close to tasteless, so it does not fight anything you put with it, and it makes a base that is genuinely low in sugar because the vegetable itself brings almost none. One green apple is enough to carry the whole glass, and the lemon and ginger stop it tasting like a blended salad. What you get is a clean, pale green drink that is more grown up than the fruit juices I usually make, and the sort of thing I will have mid afternoon when I want something cold that is not a sugar hit.
Why these ingredients work
Cauliflower is the mildest of the brassicas, and that mildness is the point here. It is mostly water and only around 25 calories per 100 g with next to no sugar, which is why this glass lands at roughly 14 g of sugar, about half what the same volume of straight apple juice would give you. Raw cauliflower carries a decent amount of vitamin C, around 48 mg per 100 g, so a glass of this brings about 80 mg, and it is a reasonable vegetable source of folate and choline. It is also a modest source of vitamin K, roughly 50 µg a glass. The cucumber adds water and keeps the flavour neutral, the apple supplies the sweetness and the pectin, and the lemon brightens the whole thing. Be realistic about the rest: cauliflower is the least nutrient dense member of the cabbage family, so do not expect the sulforaphane you would get from broccoli or sprouts, and straining leaves most of its fibre behind in the pulp, so eating it roasted is still the better way to get that.
FAQ
Does cauliflower juice taste bad?
On its own, yes, it is bland and faintly cabbagey. With the apple, lemon and ginger it is mild and clean, a bit like a cucumber juice with a squeeze of lemon. If you are unsure, start with two apples and cut back once you know how mild you like it.
Can I make it in a blender instead of a juicer?
Yes. Blend the chopped cauliflower, cucumber, apple and ginger with the lemon juice and about 100 ml of cold water for a minute, then strain it through a nut milk bag or a fine sieve. Cauliflower is watery so you do not need much water, and the strained result is close to what a juicer gives you.
Is cauliflower juice actually good for weight loss?
It is a low calorie, low sugar drink, and for most people the win is simply swapping a sugary juice or a fizzy drink for something that does not spike your sugar. No juice burns fat. One honest caution: cauliflower is high in mannitol, a carbohydrate that can cause wind and bloating in people with IBS, so if you are sensitive to it, start with a small glass. And if you take warfarin, cauliflower is a source of vitamin K, so keep your intake steady and mention it to your GP or anticoagulant clinic.
More weight-loss juices: see the full Weight Loss collection.
Cauliflower, Cucumber and Apple Juice
Equipment
- 1 Juicer Any juicer works. A masticating or cold press juicer gets the most out of the cauliflower, which is soft and can clog a centrifugal basket if you push it through too fast.
- 1 Budget cold press juicer The cheapest sensible way in if you are not sure how often you will juice.
- 1 High-speed blender For the blender method any decent blender will blitz this to a pulp in under a minute.
- 1 Nut milk bag Needed if you blend rather than juice, to strain the pulp out.
- 1 Airtight glass bottles It keeps for about a day in the fridge, so bottle it straight away.
Ingredients
For the juice
- 1/2 cauliflower about 250 g, mostly florets with a little of the stalk
- 1 cucumber a large one, roughly chopped
- 1 green apple a large crisp eating apple such as Granny Smith, cored and quartered but not peeled
- 1 lemon unwaxed, peeled if the rind is waxed
- 1 ginger a thumb sized piece of fresh root, peeled
Instructions
Juicer method
- Cut the cauliflower into florets and roughly chop the stalk. The pale green leaves are edible but taste quite cabbagey, so I usually leave them out of the glass.
- Quarter and core the apple but do not peel it, the skin carries a lot of the flavour.
- Top and tail the cucumber and cut it into chunks. Peel the ginger.
- Halve the lemon and peel off the rind if it is waxed.
- Feed everything through the juicer, alternating the soft cucumber and cauliflower with the firmer apple and lemon so the machine keeps moving.
- Stir, pour into a glass or a bottle and drink it fresh. It is best within a day.
Blender method
- Chop everything as above and add the cauliflower, cucumber, apple and ginger to the blender with the juice of the lemon and about 100 ml of cold water.
- Blend on high for around 60 seconds until it is completely smooth.
- Tip it through a nut milk bag or a fine sieve, pressing the pulp to get all the liquid out.
- Pour into a glass or bottle and drink fresh.