It is claimed that the term ‘smoothie’ relating to a fruit drink was first used by Stephen Kuhnau the founder of Smoothie King in the early 1960’s. His dislike for milk based drinks whilst working as a ‘soda jerk’ he created a drink that was thick, smooth and fruity with no dairy input. However some 40 years earlier a drink called the ‘Orange Julius’ was a popular smoothie type drink. Julius Freed created the drink which consisted of frozen orange juice, crushed ice, sugar and a diary creamer whilst working on a juice stand in Los Angeles between 1926 and 1929. The first patent on a smoothie type blender was registered by Rufus M Pophawski in 1885 however it took several years for this kitchen tool to develop into anything useful. In 1933 Fred Osius patented the ‘miracle mixer’ and in 1935 in 1935 Fred Osius teamed up with Fred Waring and patented the Waring blender. These blenders were sold throughout Pennsylvania during the 1940’s accompanied by a booklet containing fruit based drinks termed as ‘smoothies’.

A smoothie is essentially a blended fruit drink and is made using a smoothie maker. The sales of Smoothies have increased in popularity in the last 10 years and are now a regularly sold in restaurants, café bars and coffee shops throughout the United Kingdom. Smoothies can be made with whole fruit not just juice. This means that the fibrous fruit required for our daily intake is still present. A smoothie must have a liquid base to make it drinkable. Many different bases can be used to produce smoothies. The most common are fruit juices, milk yogurt or ice cream. There are may smoothie concentrates now available which contain 100% fruit. Sweet bird smoothies are one of the most popular smoothie concentrates. Zuma fruit smoothies are made of 100% real fruit and contained no preservatives or GM’s. Both sweetbird smoothies and zuma fruit smoothies are supplied in 1 litre reseal able packs and do not require being stored in refrigerator. Other fruit smoothies manufacturers’ include jet fruit smoothies who provide a wide range of mixed fruit smoothies.

To make smoothies and frappes you will need a smoothie blender. In domestic situations normal domestic blenders can be used however for commercial situations were both smoothies and frappes are likely to be produced industrial smoothie blenders should be used.

The Blendtec Smoothie maker is the market leader. The blendtec program plus smoothie blender has 30 pre-programmed cycles. These pre programmed cycles are ideal whether you blend fruit smoothies, frappes frozen drinks and milkshakes. The blendtech smoothie is extremely powerful which means less blending time and therefore a faster delivery to the customer.

Other smoothie type drinks include the ever more popular café frappes .Zuma Frappe mixes are supplied in 2 kilo resalable packs and require only ambient storage.

ZUMA Frappes can be made quickly and easily giving your customers an ice cool refreshment in an instant. The range of Zuma frappes includes chocolate, mocha, vanilla and sticky toffee.