World's Healthiest Drink? - Pineapple Juice with Kale

Pineapple is Brazil's secondmost consumed fruit, being outconsumed only by banana. Much of the county's enormous harvest is processed, either undustrially or at the time of consumption, into juice. One of the juices that you can be sure will be available year-round in just about any of Brazil's thousands of juice bars is pineapple.

A while back, Flavors of Brazil introduced its readers to a delicious mixed juice that's popular throughout Brazil - pineapple juice with fresh mint (suco de abacaxi com hortelã). Click here for that posting. Recently we've come across another intriguing juice which mixes pineapple with another ingredient - this time it's not mint but the rather-more-unlikely member of the cabbage family kale (couve).

We mentioned in our recent series of posts about the Portuguese-inspired soups called caldo verde that kale has good claim to being the world's most nutritious vegetable. Kale is low in calories, with no fat, and packed full of vitamins, calcium and chemicals with powerful antioxidant properties. And pineapple itself is no slouch when it comes to nutrition, being an excellent source of manganese and vitamin C.

All this nutritional value would be of little use if juice made from pineapple and kale tasted awful - but thankfully, it doesn't. The juice is pineapple-sweet but not cloying, and the dark green kale provides a vegetable note to the flavor that practically sings out "I'm good for you!"

The drink is easy to make at home and the necessary ingredients aren't hard to find. Try this juice some morning with your breakfast and just see if it doesn't make you feel top of the world.
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Pineapple Juice with Kale (suco de abacaxi com hortelã)
makes 1 drink

1/4 medium-sized fresh ripe pineapple, peeled, cored and cubed
1 large leaf kale, washed thorough and coarsely shredded
4 cups fresh ice cubes
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Combine all the ingredients in a large, sturdy blender and blend for two minutes at high speed, or until all the liquid is homogenous and the ice has all been crushed.

Pour through a sieve into a tall glass. Drink immediately.