It’s hard to argue with a cool peach smoothie on a warm summer afternoon. I’m not the biggest fan of stone fruit, but it’s majorly in season, and this smoothie is delicious, even for someone who doesn’t love peaches. I consulted with a friend who is a huge peach fan to come up with the recipe. In addition to peaches, it has a bit of exciting flavor from cardamom.
1/4 cup water
2 ripe peaches (remove pit but include skin)
1/3 cup peeled almonds
1/2 cup frozen mango
1 tsp honey
cardamom seeds from one pod
6 ice cubes
Blend on high until smooth, about 40 seconds with a Vitamix. Makes about 3 cups.
I’m no peach expert, but I referred to the aptly named, and quite interesting, book, How to Pick a Peach. (In addition to practical advice about how to choose produce, it also has engaging backgrounds and histories of many kinds of fruits and vegetables.) To choose a good peach inspect the background color, which should be golden. Avoid fruit that have a greenish background color, since that’s a sign that they were picked too soon and did not have their sugars fully develop. Meanwhile, the extent of the reddish blush is not relevant to taste.
If the peaches you buy are hard, leave them out at room temperature until they start to get soft. Once they are soft you can refrigerate them for up to about five days.
The almonds do not necessarily have to be peeled, but you’ll get a slightly smoother result if you use peeled. If you do not buy peeled almonds, you can peel raw almonds yourself after soaking them for 6–8 hours, or after blanching them.
I don’t usually add extra sweeteners to smoothies, but we added a bit of honey to this one, which goes quite well with the other flavors.
To get the seeds out of a cardamom pod, open it by pinching it, or if you have a tough one, crush it with a mortar and pestle or the butt of a knife. Then scrape the seeds out and discard the husk. A Vitamix or Blendtec blender will allow you to grind the seeds in the smoothie for maximum freshness and convenience.
This looks and sounds delicious! But I’m concerned about the pesticides on the peach skins. I would only use organic peaches, otherwise great recipe.
🙂
Peaches, in season, are my favorite fruit. I am looking forward to trying this. I recommend adding a bit of plain yogurt to this smoothie — cardamom, yogurt, and peaches are a natural combination. I often make cardamom yogurt (mix plain yogurt with ground cardamom and maple syrup or honey to taste) and use it to top fruit and/or oatmeal.
I agree—I think yogurt would go well with this combo. (Instead of, or in addition to, the almonds.)
I use a lot of cardamom in fruit dishes (especially pies, which I do NOT make in a Vitamix), and I’ve had very good luck with buying whole seeds that have been taken out of the pods (decorticated, it’s sometimes called). So much easier than opening those little pods. You can keep it in the freezer if you buy it in bulk.