Flavor combination for yogurt smoothie. Raspberry and what?

Question

I am making a raspberry smoothie using raspberry yogurt. I am at somewhat of a loss as to what other fruit to add for a nice combination.

For example, coconut and pineapple go excellent together.

What fruits would be best to pair with raspberry?

I know this ventures into the subjective realm a bit, but I think there are some definitive pairings and some obvious wrong answers.

Asked by JYelton

Answer

Bananas are a good combination with many berries, including raspberry since they don't compete, but add a mild/sweet flavour for contrast.

Apples and berries are also a good combination, though for a smoothie, you'd probably want to use (unsweetened) applesauce, rather than raw apple.

I've seen commercial drinks that pair raspberry with orange and mango.

If you want to taste the raspberry individually, I'd avoid pairing it with other berries as the berry flavours will tend to muddle (it will be yummy, just no distinct raspberry flavour).

Answered by Allison

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How to get raspberry flavor into a smoothie without seeds?

Question

I often enjoy (when it's not dead of winter) a fruit smoothie for breakfast; generally I use orange juice or some other juice flavor (V8 has a few with fruit flavors masking veggie tastes that I sometimes use), yogurt, and fruit I've frozen myself (removes the need for ice, leading to a thicker smoothie). Typically I use strawberries and bananas; however, when I purchase smoothies, my favorite flavors involve raspberry. I've tried purchasing frozen berries and tossing some in, but the seeds irritate me to no end.

How can I get the taste of raspberries, preferably from raspberries themselves rather than extract (seems healthier), but not the seeds?

Answer

I'd stew the raspberries down with a little water (and sugar if the raspberries aren't sweet) until they're very soft, then pass the whole thing through a sieve to remove the seeds. You can then either store the result in the fridge, or pour it into an ice cube tray for easy portioning and a nice cold smoothie.

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Can I re-freeze fruit?

Question

I bought about 1.2kg of frozen raspberries with the intention of using them yesterday, but it turns out I won't need them for another couple of weeks. I had let them thaw but have put them in the fridge since I realised my mistake.

Am I able to refreeze the berries or should I find some immediate use for them?

What are the risks / consequences if I do refreeze?

Answer

Basically, you can refreeze the raspberries.
When a fruit or veg. is frozen, the water inside the plant cell expands, and bursts the cell wall, which is why there is so much 'juice' when you thaw. If you refreeze, you can be sure that the raspberries will freeze into a giant block. If you are using them to make a sauce or a jam, this is not significant. That being said, if you are using frozen raspberries in the first place, you are obviously not looking for a perfectly intact raspberry, you are using them for some other purpose. Therefor, refreezing is no big deal. I recently answered another question about freezing and refreezing, and how it is basically a myth that it renders the refrozen product inedible. Any time you freeze you know that you are not going to get 'exactly' the same product when you thaw it, and the same goes with refreezing, there is always a 'slight' degredation of the product with each successive freeze (do you like my liberal usage of quotes?) You won't poison yourself or anything like that, you should have no worries.

That being said, what are you doing with the berries? Certainly a refrozen raspberry should be no worse that a raspberry frozen once.

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