Do you remember shopping malls? Big enclosed areas with lots of stores where you would wander around looking at stuff you weren’t ever actually going to buy, and filled with So. Many. People?
Yeah, I know, I know, but it sort of feels like we’ve been in lockdown forever. Just the thought of going back to one of those crowded places makes me feel more than a little uncomfortable.
But the reason I bring up shopping malls is that that’s the only place I ever saw Orange Julius stores. They sold these amazing drinks that were sort of a vanilla / orange creamsicle type of concoction, all fluffy and refreshing and delicious. So when I decided to do the ‘orange thing a day’ for the month, I knew I had to find a recipe and make my own.
All the recipes I found online used frozen orange juice concentrate, but of course I have all these fresh citrus in my fridge so I needed to modify. And a few of them suggested that a way around that was to blend up the whole orange (minus the peel this time), so that the drink would be more like a smoothie.
I was skeptical, since I am the sort of person who actually strains the no-pulp orange juice before drinking it because it still has too much pulp (which is absolutely disgusting and belongs nowhere near an item that is meant to be drunk, shudder), but I figured we’d give it a go.
We blended a couple mandarins, some tangelo juice, some vanilla, some milk, sugar, and ice cubes in a big bowl, and then poured it into glasses.
Richard thought it was absolutely yummy. I took one sip, got a mouthful of pulp, tried straining my whole drink in case that might help, took another sip, shuddered, and then handed mine off to Richard to finish. Definitely not a good representation of an Orange Julius, and most definitely not something I ever want to make, or consume, again.
Making a thing a day for Thingadailies.