Flu fighter smoothie

At the Unbakery, whenever any of us feels a cold coming on we immediately run to the fridge to grab ginger, turmeric, lemon and honey to make a flu tonic. It's our conditioned response!

With this smoothie, we have recreated the same miraculous properties of our cold pressed flu tonic with some new immune-boosting additions.

Bee pollen, turmeric and ginger are three powerful immune boosters that we combine here with the vitamin C from the citrus. Add to this combo the antibacterial properties of honey and you have a top-notch flu fighter.

Make time: 5 mins | Makes: 1 large glass | Equipment required: blender

Ingredients

• ⅓ medium carrot, peeled and roughly chopped
• 2 cm piece fresh turmeric
• 1 cm piece fresh ginger
• ½ orange, peeled
• ½ lime, peeled
• ¼ grapefruit, peeled
• ¼ lemon, peeled
• 1 tsp raw honey
• ½ cup filtered water
• 1 cup ice
• ¼ tsp bee pollen

Method

Place all the ingredients but the bee pollen in high speed blender and blend until smooth, around 1 minute.

Pour into a large glass and top with bee pollen.

Tips and tricks

If your blender can't break up the carrot, try adding carrot juice instead. Alternatively try sieving the smoothie before drinking to discard the chunky bits.

Turmeric

Turmeric comes from the root of a plant from the ginger family, it has a tough brown skin and deep orange flesh. Its flavour is peppery and warm, while its aroma has notes of orange and ginger. Turmeric has been used for centuries in Chinese and Indian folk medicine for its anti-inflammatory properties, helping to alleviate arthritis, joint pain and osteoporosis and improve kidney and liver function.

To get the most out of your turmeric experience and a touch of black pepper – this helps make the curcumin in turmeric more bioavailable to your body.