Smoothie with peaches

Hamamatsu is one of the sunniest cities in Japan. Last year, it received 2,362.6 hours of sunlight in total. This year, however, we have an extraordinarily long rainy season that started at the end of June and will be end around July 23. According to a local newspaper, the total hours of sunlight in Hamamatsu from June 27 to July 16 is 32.1 hours, which is only 33% of an ordinary year. As I’m not used to such weather, I’ve got tired and really want to see sunshine.

Yesterday, I was in my favorite beauty parlor. At this time of year, they treat their customers a glass of shiso or Japanese basil juice. I got it, too, and found it very refreshing. I felt like making something good by myself to feel better. So, I went to supermarkets today to look for ingredients.

In Japan, some kinds of fruits are too expensive to buy frequently. However, it often happens that overripe fruits are sold at a reduced price. In MayOne in the station building,  I got a pack of four peaches from Yamanashi Prefecture at a good bargain though they looked just normal.

I intended to make smoothie by blending fruits and vegetables. I also prepared a ripen banana, one half of pak choi, and three green shiso leaves.

In addition to these, I had a citrus fruit called “hebesu” from Miyazaki Prefecture in Kyushu. I had never heard about it before, but it seemed to be used for dressing and cooking.

I peeled the skins of peaches and banana, cut all the ingredients, except for hebesu, into piece to put in the blender. Then I added the juice of hebesu and 200 cc of water and blended all. The smoothie looked like this.

The taste of it was difficult to explain. It had sweetness, sourness, freshness of green vegetables, a little thickness, etc. It was good anyway. The smoothie was about 1 liter. Later, I came to think It would have been better to make agar jelly with a half of smoothie. I has still two peaches, so I can try some other thing.