By now, everyone knows that green juice is really good for you, but long before the slow juicing craze took over the world, Chinese people were already making their own kind of green juice — the FIVE GREEN JUICE (literal translation).

In Hong Kong, you can get it at just about any local juice stall (not slow-pressed, of course) but it’s still mighty good for you. The five greens are:

1. green pepper
2. cucumber
3. green apples
4. bitter melon
5. celery

The five greens

I use a KUVINGS juicer at home to make it once in a while (I really should do it more often) and here’s what I find to be the optimal, best tasting mix:

• 3 green apples, cored
• 4-5 stalks of celery
• 1 large cucumber
• 1 green bell pepper, cored
• 1 large bitter melon, cored

Wash, chop and run it through a slow juicer (or normal juicer, if you have one) and you’ll end up with about 3 large glasses worth. I strain it all through a small strainer just to get rid of the pulp, and then bottle the juice up for drinking within two days.

The finished product

Note that this juice is best consumed in the morning on an empty stomach to reap the most benefits, including detox, fighting high blood pressure, cholesterol and constipation. Try to use organic produce as much as you can, and if you’re a girl, avoid drinking it during that special time of month(?) — might be too ‘cool’ for the body!

If you don’t have a juicer, you can always get it at your local juice man/lady or just buy a green juices from Hong Kong’s many juice companies (we like Pressed for their wide selection of mixes).