Deborah Smith is the quintessential hippie health nut: she teaches yoga, is a graduate of a nutrition program, moonlights as a healthy-eating consultant, and is the juice guru behind the Green Pirate Juice Truck.
Every weekend through October, you can find her mobile vending operation parked at the Grand Army Plaza farmers market, hawking fruit-and-veggie blends.
Smith and former bandmate Lisa Andaloro started the Green Pirate Juice Truck the 2007 in McCarren Park, naming the biodiesel fuel juice truck after their all-female rock band. Unlike rock and roll, their juice cleanses the body of toxins.
”My juices are made from fresh, raw produce,” Smith said. “So the body can digest these liquids easily to quickly absorb vitamins and minerals.”
Her talk may be sweet, but we needed to know the juicy details about the drinks’ flavors.
The Hot Pink Limeade, which sounds more like a cocktail than a health beverage (“I give my drinks sexy names to get people to order them,” Smith said), is a palate-pleaser made with beets, apple and lime.
The truck’s signature Green Pirate Juice is another winner. It’s got green apple, spinach, kale, celery and cucumber, so it tastes earthy. The apple and cucumber give it a hint of sweetness.
“I was bored on the truck one day so I just decided to use all the green food that I had to make a drink, and it came out delicious,” Smith said.
But it ain’t easy being green. Not everything is a success. Skip the Green Goddess, which was like slurping a kale frappe. At $6 a pop, that’s tough to stomach, but higher prices are the result of using all-organic produce and serving it in bio-degradable corn plastic cups.
Green Pirate Juice Truck at the Grand Army Plaza Farmers Market (corner or Prospect Park West and Union street in Park Slope, no phone), Saturdays, 8 am-4 pm, now through Oct. 31. For info, visit www.green-pirate.com.
