You might have heard of aloe vera juice and its potential health benefits. We’ll get to the health benefits later, but aloe vera juice does have the potential to help you in a variety of ways, and it’s becoming more and more available.
Unfortunately, some do not like the taste of it, and others don’t like the texture. If you are one of those people, here is how to make aloe vera juice taste better.
Flavor Profile
First, let’s discuss how aloe vera tastes and its mouth feel. As the name suggests, aloe vera comes from the aloe vera plant. You can make it at home, or you can purchase it at the store.
When you make it at home, you cut open an aloe vera leaf and scrape out the inside after boiling it, and then take the clear gel into a blender. You then add some water to blend it up until it is a juice-like consistency.
Because it is made from the aloe vera leaf gel, the juice tends to have some pulp, giving it a texture that is like orange juice with pulp. You can strain it, but you will still have a thicker texture due to the nature of how it’s made. If you buy at the store, it will likely be a little bit smoother, but not much.
Aloe vera juice has the taste of aloe vera. It’s slightly citrusy, but it does have a bitter undertone.
How to Make Aloe Vera Juice Taste Better
Water It Down
If you don’t like the taste or texture of aloe vera juice, start by watering it down a bit. Watering it down will make the flavor and the texture of the juice less concentrated and a little bit easier to drink if you are having it on its own.
This is especially good if you’re just having a small amount and don’t have a lot of time to improve its flavor. You can also run it back through your blender or food processor to smooth it out a little bit with some more water if you have the time.
Add Something Carbonated
For any beverage you’d like to improve the taste of, adding a carbonated beverage to it is always a good method. Carbonation will make the drink a little bit brighter, and if you add a flavored carbonated beverage, then you can change the taste of it while you’re at it.
This is as easy as just adding some sparkling water, but you could combine it with soda if you wanted or a seltzer of some sort. Either way, it’ll make for a much more attractive way to drink aloe vera juice.
Add Some Spices
No matter what you’re eating or drinking, adding spices can drastically improve the taste, and many are suitable for aloe vera juice.
A few homemade aloe vera juice recipes call for adding cinnamon, as this will neutralize the flavor a little bit, but you certainly don’t have to stop there. There are tons of spices that will improve the flavor of aloe vera juice and make it taste better and a little bit more interesting to the pallet.
You can stay on the sweet route with cinnamon and add some nutmeg. Or you can make it a little bit spicy with some cayenne pepper or paprika. Spices will be a welcome addition to your juice.
Make a Special Rim
If you really want to get fancy, add a special rim to your aloe vera juice. A rim makes drinking aloe vera juice more fun, but it also makes it a little bit tastier.
Take a lime or lemon wedge around the rim, and dip the glass into the spices on a small plate, and you’ll have an easy homemade rim that will be fun to drink.
Make a Cocktail
Why stop with a fun rim when you can make an entire cocktail with your aloe vera juice? Grab whatever carbonated beverage you were using and mix in some tequila for an aloe vera juice cocktail.
You can use your other alcohol of choice if you’d like, such as vodka or rum, and get experimental with the cocktail content. No matter what you do, making a cocktail with your aloe vera juice will make it taste much better and be a healthy mixer for your alcohol.
Add Some Fruit
If you are a juice lover, but aloe vera juice just isn’t your jam, either because of the taste or the texture, try making it with some other fruit juice. Add berries, oranges, or anything else you like in the form of juice.
This will be especially easy if you have a juicer, but you can do this in your blender. And if the texture of the blended fruit is causing you issues, just strain it through a fine mesh sieve, and you’ll have a much better-tasting juice. Then with this juice, you can make some of the other suggestions, like adding some carbonation or spices or making it into a cocktail.
Put It in a Smoothie
Aloe vera juice will also taste a lot better if you put it in a smoothie. You can use this as a substitute for milk or just add it right in, but either way, having some fruit and vegetables to mask the flavor will make it taste a lot better.
Health Benefits
As noted, the aloe vera plant is very healthy. Although it is most known for soothing your skin, after a bad sunburn, ingesting it can also help your health. Here are some of those potential health benefits:
- Full of antioxidants
- Can help with digestion
- Great for dental health
- Great for your skin
There are other potential benefits you stand to gain from drinking aloe vera juice, as well. Make your own or buy some; either way, there are many ways to make it taste better.