EMERALD BEAUT GREEN SPRITZER.

EMERALD BEAUT GREEN SPRITZER.
Jump to Recipe
August 24, 2016

This post was created in partnership with Naked Juice for #DrinkGoodDoGood. All opinions are my own.


It’s hard to ignore the toll of human life on planet Earth these days. This NPR piece about having children in the age of climate change is brutal, this photo of 5 year-old Syrian child Omran Daqneesh is permanently heart rending, the aftermath of the Olympics is rippling dangerously through Rio, and fifty thousand homes in Louisiana are submerged in flood water. Here in Los Angeles, the weather has been deceptively beautiful and the markets’ bounty belies severe drought. Wildfires are raging just out of view.

And then there are the food deserts—areas where affordable, quality fruits and vegetables are nearly impossible to access. Millions (30, to be exact) of Americans live in food deserts just miles from areas of tremendous abundance. Yet when Naked Juice teamed up with Wholesome Wave for the #DrinkGoodDoGood campaign to fight food deserts, they discovered that 60% of Americans don’t believe food deserts exist in their community. With the news cycles constantly pumped full of catastrophes, it’s easy to overlook the quieter crises, the hungrier disasters in our own backyards.

But summer—bursting with vibrant fruits and veggies—is the perfect time to change that.

#DrinkGoodDoGood couldn’t be simpler—all you have to do is post a selfie with your favorite fruit or veggie and use the hashtag. For every selfie, Naked Juice will donate 10 pounds of Wholesome Wave produce to communities in need. Get as funky and weird and excited as you like. Exhibit A:

What?! I just get really excited about Emerald Beaut plums, ok??

I got so excited about these magenta-speckled green orbs that I decided to throw them in a blender with a few other summer flavors I love: Cucumber, mint, lime, and vanilla. Blended up, they take on a luscious flavor that’s gentle yet bursting with sweetness, tang, and dimension.

After the blitz of stone fruit, aromatics, citrus, cucumber, and vanilla, I added a topper of sparkling water. This is the mocktail I plan to guzzle until the average daily temp dips below 70ºF. Even better, it’s just one of over 50 summer libations celebrating today’s #DrinkTheSummer party, organized by the brilliant Sherrie Castellano of With Food + Love. I say each one is just another excuse to selfie it up for a great cause.

So while I’m keeping tabs on the harrowing straits through which communities around the globe are slogging, I’m going to spend an equal amount of time focusing on the food deserts in my own community.

Nota bene: This juice turns from emerald green to a much yellower shade quite quickly, so don’t be alarmed when the color changes on you. It still tastes divine. And if you can’t find Emerald Beaut plums, any yellow or green plum will work perfectly.

EMERALD BEAUT GREEN SPRITZER.

Ingredients
  

  • 2 medium-large green plums sliced
  • 5- inch length cucumber roughly chopped
  • 10-15 fresh mint leaves
  • 2 teaspoons fresh lime juice
  • ½ teaspoon pure vanilla extract
  • 4 ice cubes
  • sparkling water

Instructions
 

  • Blend plums, cucumber, mint, lime juice, vanilla, and ice cubes until completely smooth. Serve with sparkling water: Two parts juice to one part sparkling water.
  • And remember: Tare a selfie with your produce and use #DrinkGoodDoGood for Naked Juice to donate 10 pounds of produce to communities in need.