Tart Cherry and Grape Juice
Tart cherry juice is the one juice I actually drink at night. The sour cherries are the variety with the sleep research behind them, so I buy them frozen and defrost them rather than paying for a punnet of sweet ones in July. Grapes give it body and soften the sharpness, half a lemon keeps it from tasting like syrup, and you end up with a deep ruby glass in about ten minutes with nothing to cook. It is deliberately a small glass, not a pint.
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
- 1 Budget cold press juicer a great value alternative
- 1 Budget blender a great value alternative
Ingredients
Juice base
- 250 g tart cherries frozen and defrosted sour cherries, or fresh Montmorency-style ones, pitted. Keep the juice that comes off them as they thaw
- 150 g red grapes about a small handful on the stalk, washed
- 0.5 lemon peeled down to the flesh, pith removed
- 100 ml cold water for the blender method only
Optional extras
- 10 g fresh ginger peeled, if you want a bit of warmth in it
- ground cinnamon a small pinch over the top before you drink it
Instructions
Juicer method
- Defrost the cherries if they are frozen and keep the liquid that comes off them. Pull the grapes off the stalk and wash them, and peel the lemon down to the flesh.
- Feed the cherries through the juicer first, then the grapes, then the lemon. Cherries are soft and give up their juice quickly, and the grapes push the last of the cherry pulp through behind them. Pour the cherry liquid you saved into the jug at the end.
- Stir it, pour it into two small glasses and drink it. If it is for bedtime, have it about an hour before you go up rather than as you are getting into bed.
Blender method
- Defrost the cherries, de-stalk and wash the grapes, peel the lemon, and cut everything into rough chunks. Put it all in the blender with 100ml of cold water.
- Blend on high for 45 to 60 seconds, until you cannot see any flecks of grape skin. Grape skin is the slowest thing to break down, so give it another 15 seconds if you are unsure.
- Pour through a nut milk bag or a fine sieve and press the pulp with the back of a spoon to get the last of it out. Pour into two small glasses and drink it fresh.
Notes
Keeps for up to 24 hours in an airtight bottle in the fridge, though the colour dulls as it sits. Stir or shake it before you pour.
Worth knowing: this is not a low sugar drink. One glass carries roughly 22g of sugar, about the same as a small glass of orange juice, so keep it to one glass a night rather than topping up. Tart cherries contain a small amount of melatonin and the tryptophan your body uses to make more, which is where the sleep interest comes from, and trials on cherry juice and sleep have been small with modest results. Treat it as a wind-down drink, not a sleeping tablet, and if your sleep has been poor for months, that is worth a chat with your GP.
Nutrition
Serving: 1glassCalories: 116kcalCarbohydrates: 24gProtein: 2gFat: 0.5gSodium: 6mgPotassium: 370mgFiber: 1gSugar: 22gVitamin A: 275IUVitamin C: 19mgCalcium: 28mgIron: 1mg
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