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You have before and after options for removing seeds from a smoothie. All fruits and vegetables have seeds, but some are soft and get blended into the drink -- these are hardly noticeable. Others are hard enough not to break apart in the blender, and stick in your teeth or interfere with drinking. Strawberry and kiwi seeds fall into the first category; black watermelon seeds and blackberry seeds fall into into the second, and cucumber seeds are somewhere in the middle.

Tips

If you use an ingredient with large but soft seeds, such as white watermelon seeds and soft cucumber seeds, the seeds will disappear once you blend the smoothie. Either keep the seeds in for extra fiber, or remove them to make a more creamy drink.

Depending what kind of fruit or vegetable you use for your smoothie, you have different options for taking the seeds out:

Use sharp knife to cut away the portions of the fruit or vegetable that contain the seeds. This method works well for melons and squash.

to cut away the portions of the fruit or vegetable that contain the seeds. This method works well for melons and squash. Scrape off the seeds with the back of a metal spoon for produce with many accessible seeds, such as cantaloupe or cucumbers.



for produce with many accessible seeds, such as cantaloupe or cucumbers. Remove the seeds one-by-one with your hands or the tip of a paring knife . Do this for apple, orange and watermelon seeds.

. Do this for apple, orange and watermelon seeds. Force the pulp of fruits such as raspberries and blackberries through a fine mesh sieve by pressing with the back of a spoon so the pulp runs into a bowl set under the sieve, leaving the seeds behind.

Tips

Fruit and vegetable purees stay fresh in your refrigerator for about a week, and the purees stay good for smoothies indefinitely in the freezer if you store them in an airtight, freezer-grade bag.

You'll lose some of the frothiness in your smoothie when you remove the seeds after pureeing the fruit, but it comes back quickly if you blend the drink a second time. To get rid of the seeds, pour the smoothie mixture through a fine sieve into a pitcher or glass.

Tips

Use fruits and vegetables with very tiny seeds or just one large pit if you want to avoid getting any seeds at all in your smoothie. Your options include bananas, peaches, nectarines, mangoes, kale and spinach.