Fruity, zesty, and delicious, this sunny citrus frappe features the bright flavours of fresh orange and lime, the sweetness of pineapple and honey, and the enlivening zing of ginger in one irresistibly lush and frothy combination.

An image of a fruit frappe in a glass with a pitcher full of the same nearby.

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Ingredients already on hand!
Preparing citrus fruit and ginger for blending
Tips for a better blending experience
Customize to your liking
Bright Citrus Frappe
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I love fruit, but am very picky about fruit textures and flavours, so as a result I find myself eating less fresh fruit during the winter months when good fruit is harder to come by. I mostly snack on apples and the occasional orange, but find myself consuming much of my fruit intake in smoothie form. So every now and then, when I have an intense fruit craving - which I suppose is my body’s way of telling me that I need more of what fruit has to offer - I blend up a batch of this bright sunlit frappe.

An image of an orange colour drink being poured into a glass.

An image of an orange smoothie in a glass with a glass jar.

Ingredients already on hand!

Made with ingredients you probably already have in your fridge - whole peeled citrus fruit - orange and lime - frozen pineapple, ginger, and honey, Bright Citrus Frappe is perhaps best described as a cross between a fresh blender juice and a fruit smoothie. An interesting thing happens when you blend whole citrus and frozen pineapple in a high speed blender; as it blends down to the smoothest possible consistency, it gets creamy, bubbly, and whipped up, almost frappe-like. Adding ginger adds sparkling zestiness, and a final drizzle of honey to taste increases the sweetness to your desired preference.

An image of the ingredients needed for this recipe sitting out on a wooden cutting board.

Preparing citrus fruit and ginger for blending

As this frappe uses whole citrus fruit, make sure you remove the peel and as much white pith as you can, as pith can increase bitterness. I find a small serrated knife works well for quickly removing both skin and pith at the same time.

As citrus can of course contain seeds depending on the variety, make sure to cut your orange and lime into quarters so you can see if there are any seeds present and quickly flick them out with the tip of your knife so they don't end up in the blender.

If you have a high speed blender, then little more than chopping up ginger is needed to result in a completely smooth blended final drink, however, if you think your blender might have a little more trouble with the fibrous ginger, simply finely grate it before blending.

An image of cut citrus fruit and peeled ginger.

Tips for a better blending experience

While making a smoothie or frappe is straightforward enough, a few tips can help maximize your blending experience. I find that adding liquid first, followed by fresh fruit, and finally adding frozen fruit allows for a smoother and continuous blend.

The strength of your blender will change how long you need to blend the frappe - start on a lower speed, increasing to the highest speed once the ingredients start to liquify and make sure you blend long enough that all of the ingredients are completely smooth, creamy, and frothy.

Fruit inside a blender cannister ready to be blended.

Fruit inside a blender cannister ready to be blended, with honey being drizzled in from a spoon.

Customize to your liking

This recipe indicates the amounts I regularly use in this frappe, but of course, fruit can have varying levels of sweetness, so use the stated amounts as a guide. If your fruit isn’t that sweet, add more pineapple or honey, or if you only want a touch of lime or ginger, start with half of the amount suggested and go from there. Sometimes I add more water if my citrus fruit isn’t particularly juicy, and so on. You really can’t wrong with these lovely ingredients, so start with the amounts that work for you, blend, taste, and adjust if needed.