Please activate JavaScript!
Please install Adobe Flash Player, click here for download
ePaper created 2016-03-08, 16:49:54 | version 1.34.01
www.fbreporter.com FOOD & BEVERAGE REPORTER | MARCH 2016 | 15 she “felt amazing”. “We had tried other ways to improve our lifestyle and get healthier but nothing compares to the honesty and purity of raw juice.” Stander threw herself headlong into learning about the world of juicing and quickly realised a gap in the market: home delivery of cold-pressed juices was not available anywhere in South Africa. She enrolled in an internationally- recognised natural juice therapy programme and used her extensive business experience gained locally and abroad to develop a sustainable model for a raw juice business. She set off what has become a real cold-pressed juice revolution in South Africa. The Juice Revolution uses two juicers, an all stainless-steel twin gear, twin auger commercial Angel Juicer which turns at a leisurely 82 rpm and which, she says, is widely considered to be one of the best enzyme juicers on the market worldwide. The other is an all-stainless steel hydraulic cold-press juicer with an integrated shredder which cuts the fibres of the produce down to almost cellular level and the juice is then expressed using 14 tons of hydraulic pressure. Both extraction processes result, says Stander, in an extremely high quality juice with more vitamins, minerals and enzymes intact due to very little friction and oxidation. Stander, concerned that once made, cold-pressed juice starts losing its nutritional value quickly, and that there are vast differences in the shelf life and nutritional value of various juices, then invested in a blast freezer which, she says, locks in all the flavours and nutrients until the consumer decides to open the bottle. She uses a single- load blast freezer with a large capacity that was specially designed and built in 2014. She is able to produce 800 bottles frozen to -30C less than two hours after bottling. Stander calls her juices “fresh frozen”. Apart from advantages such as a higher quality, better tasting product, blast freezing offers health and safety benefits. Stander says the extreme temperature dramatically slows down metabolic activity. “This means bacteria growth is slowed and there is a greatly reduced risk of contamination provided food is handled safely and subjected to freezing immediately after preparation.” Stander also refers to her products as “lovingly hand-made”. “There is personal care and attention paid in every step of our process, from sourcing to washing, shredding, pressing, blending, capping, labelling and freezing.” Raw juicing is very uch part of the new economy and almost half of Stander’s customers order online from all over SA. She couriers the juices packed in dry ice. For the rest, she has a juice bar in Stellenbosch and supplies selected Spar stores and several independent retailers, most of them in the Western Cape Another innovator in cold-pressed juices in SA is Antonia De Luca, who studied at Stellenbosch and at Bond University in Australia, and has degrees in marketing and entrepreneurship as well as an MBA in finance. She was brought up vegetarian from the age of 12, and became a vegan five years later. After traveling to the USA ... Continued on next page Nothing compares to the honesty and purity of raw juice “ ”