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I usually make smoothies with frozen fruit berries and a banana with a liquid like orange juice or home made kefir.
I notice lots of smoothie recipes online call for ice cubes and fresh fruit. Is there a benefit to making smoothies that way? Since half your volume is crushed ice it seems like the result would be less flavorful.
Yes, it makes it less flavorful. That doesn't necessarily mean it's a bad idea.
Often it'll still be plenty flavorful even with a decent amount of ice in it. So by using ice, you save the trouble of having to freeze some ingredients first, and don't go through your fruit quite as fast. You can avoid having to keep fruit juice on hand.
It also lets you pretty easily control exactly how cold/icy you want the smoothie. If you live in a hot area, smoothies with a decent amount of ice are actually pretty nice - they stay cold much longer, and the icy graininess can make them more refreshing.
I'm sure plenty of people would never dream of using ice and some people do all the time; feel free to go on doing whichever suits you! (I'm originally from Texas, and honestly, in addition to blending some ice in, I used to put whole ice cubes in after blending just to make extra sure it stayed cold.)
For a helpful comparison: a lot of really good sorbet recipes use a decent amount of water. For example, David Lebovitz's mango sorbet (from The Perfect Scoop) uses two large mangoes and 2/3 cup of water. Sure, it could use some kind of fruit juice instead, but I promise, it really really tastes like mango, and doesn't taste watered down at all.
I make smoothies almost daily and have made them both with and without ice. You can add ice for a variety of reasons but they all come down to personal preference.
Some of the reasons that I prefer adding ice include:
I think the central argument for ice is efficiency.
Sure, using "4 oz acai, grape, or pomegranate juice" as well as 4 oz amounts of rather potent fruits such as "strawberries, blueberries, peaches" will result in a fantastic smoothie.
But the ingredients in the quoted recipe are packed with flavor, and some of them are also quite expensive.
Adding ice releases the possibility of using 2 oz amounts of those frozen fruits, using just two of them, or skipping the fruit juice while still having a great smoothie. If the fruits are fully ripe there is often flavor to spare and the taste won't be watered down.
Ice, if used wisely, can help create a delicious, cold smoothie that costs less.
Personally, I can't drink thick liquids if they are not icy - I gag. Drinkable yogurt, milkshakes that have melted, ice-less smoothies, etc. are all a complete no-go for me. Sure, most people don't have this reaction, but I'm betting I'm not the only one. For whatever reason, the ice particles make it far more agreeable to me.
Additionally, it can help to cut down on calories in two ways. One, obviously, water/ice has no calories, whereas the same volume of additional fruit/juice does. Second, when it's so cold from the ice, you can't chug the stuff quickly, lest you get brain freeze. Prolonging the drinking of it gives your stomach time to process that it's getting filled up, so there's less of a chance you end up grabbing additional food/calories after the smoothie.
My 2 cents...
It makes no good sense to use ice in smoothies. Alton Brown's smoothie recipe is the highest reviewed on Food Network, and uses no ice at all.
4 ounces plain, low-fat soy milk
4 ounces acai, grape, or pomegranate juice
4 ounces frozen banana
4 ounces frozen strawberries
4 ounces frozen blueberries
4 ounces frozen peaches
Directions
Combine the soy milk, juice, banana, strawberries, blueberries, and the peaches in the carafe of a blender. Cover and refrigerate overnight or up to 8 hours.
In the morning, or when the fruit is partially thawed, put the carafe on the base of the blender, start at the lowest speed and slowly accelerate to medium, until you achieve a vortex. Blend on medium for 1 minute. Increase the speed to high and blend for an additional minute. Serve immediately.
As you say, all ice is going to do is water the smoothie down.
As Catija says in comments, you can make ice cubes out of the juice and/or freeze the fruit, but it makes no sense to use frozen water.
I do prefer using ice in my smoothies as it gives it that thicker, but cool and refreshing texture, with a hint of your fruit flavor. Of course I totally see where you're coming from without wishing to use ice, in the end however it all depends on your personal opinion as opposed to the other's.
When you freeze a piece of fruit, all of the water inside the fruit's cells expands and tears the fruit apart on a cellular level. This can result in moisture, texture, and flavor loss, as well as the loss of nutrients like antioxidants and Vitamins B and C.
By contrast, making your smoothies with ice and fresh fruit avoids these problems! You might experience some dilution of flavor, but you'll have the full nutritonal benefits of the fruit you use to make it with.
It depends. Most smoothies I make don't need ice - just frozen fruit. But I've been working on one smoothie that's supposed to taste like French toast -
Without the ice, even though the bananas are frozen, you get a bad texture. The creaminess of the bananas makes it more slimy than shake-y. The ice cubes give it the texture of a milkshake.
