I started keeping a pot of mint on the kitchen windowsill for tea and ended up liking it best through the juicer. Alongside two sweet apples and a whole orange it turns a plain fruit juice into something cool and clean, with a green edge that stops it tasting like a dessert. Half a lemon keeps it sharp, and that really is the whole recipe.
Why these ingredients work
Fresh mint is the reason I make this one rather than any other herb juice. Spearmint has been through proper human trials for attention and alertness, the ones that used a concentrated spearmint extract in older adults who felt their memory was starting to slip, and peppermint has been tested as a tea and as an aroma for much the same thing. So there is a real signal here rather than a folk claim, but be honest about the size of it. Those studies used concentrated extracts and not a handful of leaves, which makes a glass of this a food amount and not a dose. I make it because it is the freshest way I know to get mint into the day, not because it will paper over a bad night of sleep.
The apple and the orange do the work you would expect them to. The orange carries the vitamin C, the apple brings enough sweetness that nothing else is needed, and the lemon lifts the finish. It is worth knowing that straining any juice throws away most of the fibre you would get from eating the fruit whole, so this is a drink rather than a meal. If the fibre matters more to you, eat the apple and the orange and save the mint for your tea.
FAQ
Can I use peppermint instead of spearmint?
Yes, and the taste will be stronger and cooler. Spearmint is the milder of the two and it is the one the attention research used, so stick with spearmint if you want the gentler glass. Peppermint works perfectly well, just use a slightly smaller handful because it takes over everything else in the bottle.
Will a juicer take mint leaves?
Yes, but never on their own. Soft leaves hold very little liquid and a whole bunch at once will clog the basket, so alternate the mint with pieces of apple and orange and let the fruit carry it through. With a blender, blitz the mint with the peeled citrus and a splash of cold water first, strain that, then blend the apple in and strain again.
Does mint juice really help you focus?
Only a little, and probably not from the amount in one glass. The human trials that found better attention and working memory used a concentrated spearmint extract, so a handful of leaves is a much smaller dose. Mint actually has its strongest clinical evidence for IBS, and that comes from peppermint oil capsules. Drink this because it is a clean, refreshing glass with no added sugar, not because it will replace sleep.
More brain-friendly recipes: see the full Brain collection.
Mint, Orange and Apple Juice
Equipment
- Nut milk bag
Ingredients
Juice
- 1 large handful fresh mint leaves and tender stalks, about 25 g
- 2 sweet apples about 300 g, quartered and cored
- 1 orange large, peeled, about 180 g of flesh
- 1/2 unwaxed lemon peeled
Instructions
Juicer method
- Rinse the mint well and pick the leaves away from the tougher lower stalks. Quarter and core the apples, peel the orange and the lemon, and cut the apple and orange into pieces that fit your feed chute.
- Feed the apple through first, then the orange, then the mint, alternating the mint with pieces of fruit so the soft leaves never sit alone in the basket. Finish with the lemon.
- Give the juice a stir, pour it into two glasses over ice if you like, and drink it the same day.
Blender method
- Put the mint, the peeled orange, the peeled lemon and 150 ml of cold water into the blender and blitz until the leaves are completely broken down.
- Add the chopped apple and blitz again for about 30 seconds.
- Tip the lot through a nut milk bag or a fine sieve into a jug, pressing the pulp with the back of a spoon, then serve over ice.