• For each person allow about 200ml apple or pear juice, a handful of crushed ice and about 150g peeled or otherwise prepared fruit as appropriate. Put everything in the blender, blend until smooth and pour into a chilled jug and thence into chilled glasses.

The addition of banana in any of the mixtures produces an even creamier result. Strawberries and banana with the addition of fresh mint or basil is a fine combination, as are peaches, melon or ripe pears with strawberries. I usually keep a batch of ripe pears in the freezer, peeled, cored and quartered and use these in my smoothies, which chills them without the need for ice cubes.