Holy Basil Supreme

Makes about 3 cups (750 mL)

This juice tastes similar to a bowl of warm tomato basil soup on a cold winter day. The tried-and-true flavours will remind you of home. Tomato provides a rich, creamy flavour, apples bring a touch of sweetness, celery adds a tinge of saltiness, and fragrant basil complements it all perfectly. Tomatoes provide potassium and the carotenoids alpha- and beta-carotene and lycopene. The lycopene in tomatoes has been shown to reduce the risk for heart disease, cataracts and macular degeneration.

Tip

Never peel the skin from your apples before juicing. Apple skin contains an abundance of phytonutrient polyphenols, which help to regulate blood sugar.

Ingredients:

3 red apples, cored and sliced

1 celery stalk, chopped

15 sprigs fresh parsley (about 1⁄2 bunch; see Caution, below)

1 tomato, quartered

20 drops organic holy basil extract

Instructions:

Using a juicer, process half each of the apples, celery, parsley and tomato. Following the same order, repeat with the remaining apples, celery, parsley and tomato.

Add holy basil extract and whisk. Serve immediately.

Caution

Certain phytonutrients in parsley—in concentrated amounts, as they are in juices—may act as a uterine stimulant and should likely be avoided during pregnancy. Because of the concentrated amount of oxalate it contains, parsley juice should also be avoided by people with kidney stones or a history of kidney stones.