Innocent Super Smoothies review

Here at The Madhouse, we love innocent smoothies and we love innocent fruit juice - we've even recently been trying out innocent coconut water (it works really well in overnight oats) - but I have to admit, I've always been very dubious of their super smoothies. They sound uber healthy but there are just some things in them that don't appeal to me - flax seeds, echinacea and wheatgrass, for example. Last Christmas, they sent out some vouchers to try out the Super Smoothies as a little festive gift for their fans, but it wasn't until a couple of weeks ago that I got round to throwing some in my trolley !

We started off with the purple one - Energise, with strawberry, cherry, guarana and crushed flax seeds and vitamins b1, b2, b3, b6 and c. A closer look at the ingredients list revealed that it also contains beetroot juice which presumably gives it that purple colour. There's a lot of fruit squashed into a little 360ml bottle, and not necessarily the ones you'd first think of by looking at the label -  one and a half pressed apples, 14 red and white grapes, 3/4 of a mashed banana, 3 and a half crushed strawberries, 4 crushed cherries and 9 crushed blackcurrants.

Well, it's actually very nice. Thick and fruity with a sweet taste and no detectable hint of beetroot or flax seeds, which intitially had the kids turning up their noses. Pierre loved the fact that it gave him a red moustache too !

Buoyed by our new-found enthusiasm, we moved on to the green one - a slightly murky colour that we all found off-putting and made us think we wouldn't like it. This one is Antioxidant and contains kiwis, limes, wheatgrass and flax seeds, as well as vitamins C, E and selenium. Looking at the ingredients list revealed more things that had them squealing "yuck" - cucumber, pumpkin, spirulina ... It's also packed with fruit - one and a half pressed apples, half a mashed banana, half a crushed kiwi, 8 white grapes, a quarter of a crushed mango and a dash of lime juice.

We poured it into several glasses, all had a tentative sip pulling "this is going to be horrible" faces ... then all erupted into spontaneous "hmmmmms" ! It's actually really nice, although Madhouse Daddy found it too sweet.

It has a natural fruity taste that is really refreshing - and Pierre got another coloured moustache to make him smile !

All those vitamins and minerals seemed to go to Sophie's head. Either that or they turned her into a sealion !

Now that we've been brave enough to try them, we'll definitely be buying them again. They come in family-friendly big 750ml cartons too which would be great for the breakfast table. Each serving contains two of your five a day. The only downside is that they are quite expensive and also pretty heavy on the calories and sugar - over 200 calories and 40-50g of sugar per 360ml serving - but at least it all comes from the fruit.

star rating : 4.5/5

RRP : £2.35 per 360ml bottle, £3.39 for 750ml (but look out for offers - you can currently get the big cartons on 3 for £5 at ASDA or £2 each at ASDA or Tesco)

for more information : http://www.innocentdrinks.co.uk/super-smoothies