Introduction: Jamba Juice Razzmatazz Smoothie Recipe
I don't get Jamba Juice very often because of the cost but I do know my favorite drink they have there is the Razzmatazz smoothie. Trying to avoid going out I decided to experiment with making it at home. After looking at a few different sources online, I came up with how to make it that I will share with you here! Enjoy my version of the Razzmatazz smoothie recipe.
I probably put way too much thought into this, but I don't like to post things unless I'm sure of them.
Sources:
- Grocery Store Version - I bought this just to see and it's just a fruit mix of raspberries, strawberries, blueberries, and bananas. So it's fine, but it's cheaper and easier to buy the fruits in bulk and mix up your own.
- Jamba Juice description - on the site they say what's in it, it's just a matter of figuring out the ratio - they don't say blueberries but they say mixed berry juice which I assume is raspberry + blueberry based on the grocery store version
- Former Employee - while looking this up a former employee actually says what they put in it they just have it in scoops rather than measurements
Instructable 336
Step 1: Recipe
I tried 4 different (but very similar) ways to make this smoothie. I decided which one was the best which I will share here. I will also share information on the variations and why I ruled them out.
A lot of these things you can pretty much eyeball, it isn't going to make a huge difference unless you throw a ton of one thing in when you aren't supposed to, like a whole banana. Sometimes it's hard to measure because fruits can come in such different sizes, like you can have just a tiny strawberry and a huge one.
In the next few steps (2-5) I'm going to talk more about what's in the smoothie and why, but really once you have the ingredients, all you need to do is throw them together in the blender and mix it up.
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Makes 1 large serving of about 2 1/5 cups or 20oz - this is my guess as it filled the cup shown which holds 24oz or this could be 2 smaller servings of about 10oz each.
Ingredients:
- 1c Liquid - mix of raspberry juice and apple juice,
- 3/4c Raspberry Concentrate- I used 3/4c (and 1/4c Apple Juice) but you could probably get away with only about 1/2c of each with how potent the raspberry concentrate it is.
- I made my own, but I have found a version you can purchase, unfortunately it is hard to find from what I can see
- This isn't like cranberry raspberry juice or any other thinned out juice, this is meant to be a concentrated raspberry juice
- 1/4c Apple Juice - apple juice is used as a sweetener/filler for many juices and drinks as it doesn't have a lot of taste but can provide sweetness
- 3/4c Raspberry Concentrate- I used 3/4c (and 1/4c Apple Juice) but you could probably get away with only about 1/2c of each with how potent the raspberry concentrate it is.
- 9 Frozen Strawberries - this isn't exact and will depend on size, you can see in my picture if you were to put these in a cup measure it would about fill it
- 15 Frozen Blueberries - again just a estimate
- 1/4 to 1/2 a Frozen Banana - I'm using about 5 slices that were frozen since I'm not a huge fan of bananas in drinks
- about 3/4c Orange Sherbet - it's hard to tell how much sherbet I scooped
- a few Ice Cubes - this is mainly important if you don't use frozen fruit and/or if your smoothie seems too liquidy, you can always add more ice cubes
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Alternative version - This version will give you similar, but not as raspberry-y results as above but is easier because you don't have to make raspberry juice.
- 1c Apple Juice
- 3/4c Frozen Raspberries - since you aren't using raspberry juice in this version, you just use the whole raspberries instead
- 7 Frozen Strawberries
- 15 Frozen Blueberries
- 1/4 - 1/2 Frozen Banana
- 3/4c Orange Sherbet
- Ice Cubes
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Supplies:
- Blender - I use a Vitamix which works well and the tamper is helpful when working with thick things like smoothies
- Measuring cups
- Mesh Strainer or Straining Bag or cheesecloth (optional) for straining seeds from Raspberries
- Ice Cube Tray or Molds - this is for if you want to freeze raspberry juice or kale or other items
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Step 2: Frozen or Fresh Fruit?
When it comes to making smoothies, you should use frozen fruit.
The main reason is, you want the drink frozen and thick so using fruit that is already frozen makes this easier.
Another reason is frozen fruit is cheaper so why not? You don't need the fruit to be perfect since it is getting blended anyway.
Most fruits you can buy frozen already. One you can't usually is banana. If you plan on making smoothies, I recommend cutting bananas into slices and freezing them. Makes it easy to grab a handful and throw them in the blender.
Also, you can usually get frozen mixed berry packages but I don't recommend getting them. It depends what you can find, but most have blackberry and they always seem to be mostly blackberry so it really isn't worth it. Get the individual fruits. Then you know what you are getting.
Step 3: Liquid
I just wanted to talk a little about liquids you can use and those I tried.
First of all, you could just use water, but when I did this the smoothie was very plain. So it helps keeps calorie and sugar count down, but doesn't seem worth it taste wise.
Another option is just apple juice or just orange juice. Apple juice works alright because it doesn't have as much flavor as other juices but it isn't as good as the recommended Raspberry juice. Orange juice can be a good alternative, but the resulting smoothie will pretty strong orange flavor-wise. So, it does taste good, you just don't get the raspberry flavor you want.
If you don't end up using orange sherbet, you could add just some orange juice to get that flavor in there.
When you are making your smoothie, if it seems too thick, pour in more liquid.
Step 4: Making Raspberry Juice
If you really want this to taste right, you need raspberry juice. You can buy the one correct product out there or make it yourself.
All you really need to do is mash up your raspberries and strain out the seeds. You can use a mesh strainer or a strainer bag. I ended up using the bag, but it's kind of a pain either way. If you use the bag, I recommend doing some at a time, if you throw too much in those bags at once it gets hard to get the liquid out.
Since this can be a bit of a pain, I recommend making a bunch of this at once and freezing what you don't need right now in an ice cube tray or other silicon mold. Then, when you know you are going to want to make another smoothie, take out some raspberry juice cubes and let them dethaw ahead of time.
If you do freeze it, I suggest figuring out how much is in each ice cube so you know how many to dethaw when you need it.
Step 5: Healthier?
There is no question that smoothies are on the whole not healthy. They are a lot of calories and usually sugar packed into one drink. And this recipe is no different. But you can attempt to make it MORE healthy by adding in some greens.
Kale, spinach, and cabbage can be good as they are good nutrient-wise and won't add flavor to your drink. You can buy some things like spinach frozen already, but you can also blanche and freeze your own vegetables. I did this with kale. I froze it in a nice round mold so I can grab a few discs to throw in my smoothie when I make a smoothie.
Avocado can also be a good addin. You can use fresh or you can mash up avocado, add a little lemon/lime juice, and freeze it in an ice cube tray or mold. You could add it frozen (I haven't tried that yet) or let it dethaw and add it.
Other things you can add to your smoothie are protein powders, chia seeds, or plain greek yogurt (possibly instead of sherbert).
Step 6: Blend
Now that you've gotten through all that nonsense, you can mix your ingredients and blend!
Remember, if it seems too thick, use your tamper and/or add more liquid.
If your drink seems too thin, you can throw in more ice cubes.
Step 7: Finished Drink
It should be a pretty dark red. I had a hard time capturing the color. It would look different inside and outside the house :P