FAQ

There is a perception that using glass bottles is more environmentally friendly than plastic, due to the fact that glass is more often recycled. A user who cares about the environment may therefore believe that drinking their cold-pressed berry juice from a glass bottle is better than drinking it from a plastic bottle.

The major reason for NOT using glass in the packaging of juices is that there are only two ways to pasteurize juices in glass (in order to kill potential pathogens and to get more than 3 days shelf life) and that is through the use of chemical preservatives or through heat pasteurization. The addition of chemicals is a no-no and we pride ourselves in not adding any chemicals to our pure juices. The use of heat pasteurization is also something we do not subscribe to, as heat can rapidly destroy vitamins and antioxidants. Vitamin C, for example, starts breaking down at only 30 °C. Heat pasteurization can be undertaken at different temperatures, starting at around 70 °C and going as high as 98 °C. While those companies that use heat pasteurization will claim that high temperature has minimal effect on vitamins and antioxidants, numerous published research papers show otherwise.

Our solution to this is to use the process of high pressure pasteurization (HPP) where the juices enter and leave the pasteurization process at an ice-cold 6 °C and reach a maximum of 21 °C at peak pressure. HPP is the only pasteurization process that can kill pathogens and give juice a long shelf life without destroying the superfood status of the juice. Unfortunately, glass bottles cannot be used in the HPP process – only plastic.

It is possible to store unpasteurized juice in a frozen state, but again glass bottles cannot be used for that.

Therefore, if you want to drink a pure cold-pressed juice that retains all its natural goodness in the forms of vitamins and antioxidants (that berries are particularly known for) and that has any potential pathogens killed, the only option is a plastic bottle that has gone through a HPP process. If the juice is in glass, it is either unpasteurized (with potential pathogens and a 3-5 day shelf life) or the goodness has been tampered with through chemical or heat pasteurization.

A HPP cold-pressed juice in a fully recyclable PET bottle will give you the best of both worlds – an environmentally friendly container which is fully recyclable, plus a superfood juice that retains all of its natural vitamins, antioxidants, oils etc, while being guaranteed free of harmful pathogenic bacteria. The bottles we use are PET and are fully recyclable – PET is easily melted down to make fibers, so it’s recycled to make carpets, fiberfill, and fabric for shopping bags.

Think again before insisting on a cold-pressed juice packed in glass – you may be getting a whole lot less than you expected.

In general terms, elevated temperatures will degrade most vitamins and antioxidants commonly found in fruits, vegetables and berries. With the exception of vitamin K and the B vitamin niacin, which are very stable in food, most vitamins are sensitive and are easily destroyed when exposed to heat.

Temperature is one of the most important factors affecting antioxidant activity. Generally, heating causes an acceleration of the initiation reactions, and hence a decrease in the activity of the present or added antioxidants.

An artisanal operation is always focused on quality and innovation. Our raw materials (fruit and vegetables) are sourced from local farmers and each individual item is washed by hand and inspected visually for the presence of insects, soil, bad portions, etc, thereby ensuring that only top quality, clean fruit enters the production process. All steps of the production process, from food preparation, cleaning, chopping, shredding, juicing, bottling, quality testing, cold chain management, packing and dispatch are handled by people and not just machines.

An artisanal operation is also able to adapt the recipes to accommodate seasonal variations in the nutrients of the raw ingredients. We test every single batch of juice before we bottle it, in order to ensure that it meets our stringent quality standards. If the recipe needs adjusting, we do it by slightly changing our blend, NOT by running to a chemical store to grab a chemical such as ascorbic acid to adjust the juice back into specification.

An artisanal operation is also focused on maximising employment from the local community and sourcing fruit and vegetables from local farmers and suppliers.

The primary difference between our juices and all other juices in the market, is that our juices are always based on a pure cold-pressed, superfood berry – cape gooseberry, blueberry, blackberry or raspberry and NOT a filtered, de-flavoured apple juice or pear juice or grape juice.

Our juices have zero additives – no ascorbic acid to artificially boost vitamins or to control pH, no emulsifiers or stabilisers to stop the juice from separating. We don’t add apple cider vinegar and we don’t add gimmick ingredients like activated charcoal which are scientifically proven to more likely absorb the healthy vitamins and antioxidants in our juice than to absorb toxins from your system.

What you will find in our juices is pure juice, extracted through strict cold-press processes, cold pasteurized to preserve all the natural goodness, while removing any pathogens – THAT’S ALL

We use a wide variety of healthy fruits, vegetables and herbs in our juices, all sourced from within or as close to the Riebeek Valley as possible. The defining signature of juices from The Raw Berry Press, is that you will always find a pure natural superfood berry juice as the star ingredient in the bottle.

Our juices are formulated to be tasty, healthy and full of important minerals, vitamins, antioxidants and other nutrients. A key ingredient in many of our berry juice blends is the cape gooseberry – the real superfood of all berries (see our Guide to Nutrition of Juices to find out how a cape gooseberry outperforms all other berries).

While the bulk of cold pressed and other juices available on the market contain added ascorbic acid, The Raw Berry Press does not subscribe to this practice for the following reasons:

• While added ascorbic acid is reported as vitamin C, the bioavailability of added ascorbic acid cannot be compared to natural vitamin C that is found in raw fruits and vegetables. The ascorbic acid associated with naturally occurring vitamin C, is always found in a natural balance with ascorbinogen, bioflavonoids, rutin, tyrosinase, factor J, K & P and various mineral cofactors. Added ascorbic acid does not include all these naturally occurring compounds and is therefore not equivalent to natural vitamin C.
• Ascorbic acid used for addition to juices is produced in industrial chemical factories, typically using corn starch or other sugars as a starting point. Around 80% of the commercial ascorbic acid is produced in China. Ascorbic acid is also used in the production of photo development chemicals, animal feeds and plastics.
• Ascorbic acid added to juices serves the purpose of a chemical preservative when added to a juice or is used to artificially control the juice acidity to a desired level.
• A juice that contains added ascorbic acid cannot be referred to as a natural juice product as it has been modified with an industrial chemical.
• The Raw Berry Press believes in adding no chemical preservatives to its juices and rather relies on novel blends using pure berry juice to control juice pH. We are the only juice producer in the world to adopt this approach.

We use the world-leading high-pressure pasteurization (HPP) to cold pasteurize all our juices. We have done extensive independent shelf-life studies of our HPP juices and the laboratories have confirmed a shelf life in excess of 150 days if the juice is kept in a refrigerator. This can be extended even further if the juice is frozen.

Independent laboratory studies have also confirmed that the HPP juices have a shelf life of up to 45 days outside the refrigerator. This means that if you buy juices at our on-line store, we can send it by normal courier to any part of the country, whereafter you can put them back into the refrigerator to consume ice-cold.

We do not process any foodstuffs that contain the commonly known allergens. No cereals, grains, tree nuts, peanuts, soy products, lupins or any meat or dairy products are processed in our juice factory. No chemicals of any nature are added to our juices or used in the juice production process. The complete ingredients of our juices are always shown on the front of the juice label and there are no hidden or undeclared ingredients. What’s in our juice is on the label – THAT’S ALL.

We use PET plastic bottles for our juices as this is the only way to get the beneficial cold pasteurization from HPP. PET bottles are fully recyclable and around 90000 tonnes of PET is recycled in South Africa every year. PET packaging can be made from 100% recycled PET, recapturing both the material and the inherent energy of the original bottle. Recycled PET is used to make many products, including polyester staple fibre/filament used for clothing, home textiles (duvets, pillows, carpeting), automotive parts (carpets, sound insulation, boot linings, seat covers) and industrial end-use items (geotextiles and roof insulation) and new PET packaging and bottles for both food and non-food products.

Berry-based juices produced by The Raw Berry Press can be purchased at our on-line store to be delivered essentially anywhere in South Africa. There is also a growing network of retail outlets, speciality deli and health stores, restaurants, hotels and catering establishments and distributors that are stocking our juices. Our website will be updated with local stockists as and when they are signed up to be outlets for our juices.

High pressure pasteurization (HPP) allows gentle preservation of food by high pressure without additives or heat. The food is conveyed in special baskets into a high-pressure vessel which is then filled with cold water (6 degrees) by pumps that keep on pumping until the pressure reaches over 6000 bar. The pressure is applied evenly, leaving no evident crushing of the products. High isostatic pressure inactivates food-borne microorganisms and spoilage enzymes in a few minutes. After a set time, the pressure is released very abruptly, causing further damage to potential pathogens. The HPP process does not affect vitamins and other nutrients in a juice.

While it is commonly stated that juices have seriously reduced nutritional value, are high in natural sugars and low in fibre, this statement is more applicable to juices produced in large-scale industrial operations, as well as in cold-pressed juices that use clarified apple or pear juice as the primary base. This statement does not apply to The Raw Berry Press juices which use pure superfood berry juices as their core ingredient and which do not include filtration processes to remove natural fibre.

It is recommended that children may drink up to 125ml of natural cold pressed juice per day, particularly those that are low in total sugars and high in fibre.

The Raw Berry Press juices can be used for a variety of purposes. Its main use of course is as a daily boost of good natural vitamins, antioxidants and minerals. However, these juices are delicious when added to your breakfast yoghurt or muesli together with nuts and fresh fruit. The vitamin bombs, in particular, are delicious when served over a fruit salad.

The juices can be diluted with sparkling water to give a long refreshing and healthy drink any time of day. The juices, especially the pure berry or pomegranate juices are fantastic when used as a mixer in your favourite cocktail. Partially freeze it and then eat it as a refreshing slushy/sorbet or use it in novel cooking dishes instead of alcoholic beverages.

Yes, the juices can be frozen and can then have their shelf life extended even longer than the existing 150 days. Packing a frozen juice into a lunchbox for your child going to school will also ensure that it is defrosted but deliciously cold at lunchtime.

Generally speaking, freezing helps retain the nutrient content of fruits and vegetables.

However, some nutrients begin to break down when frozen produce is stored for more than a year.

As the Raw Berry Press is an artisanal-scale juice producer, we are able to make private juice blends and are also able to produce juices under private labels. Contact us directly for more information in this regard.