4 drinks that are driving the freshness revolution
![4 drinks that are driving the freshness revolution 4 drinks that are driving the freshness revolution](https://eu-images.contentstack.com/v3/assets/blt09e5e63517a16184/bltafc06db067aebac6/64cbf83cdb0bcc7a8de33eaa/NewHopeNetwork_Horizontal_RGB.png?width=700&auto=webp&quality=80&disable=upscale)
We asked Harmless Harvest co-founder Justin Guilbert if he thought coconuts were a gateway ingredient. This is what he said: "Coconut water is probably the most poorly understood and most mainstream product right now in terms of media excitement. Everybody is excited about it the way they were about powdered orange juice in the 1950s. Back then, people didn’t know the difference between powdered and the real thing because, unless they lived in Florida, they hadn’t tasted real OJ. People now are drinking coconut water that’s been boiled or cooked. [Our] raw coconut water is tricky and delicate: It has low acid, and it was the perfect ingredient to experiment with high-pressure processing." The company recently launched 100% Raw Tea. Got gateway?
Suja Co., known for its fresh fruit and vegetable juices and premium cleanses, is extending to the fresh smoothie category with the introduction of Suja Elements. Co-developed and sold exclusively in Whole Foods Markets nationwide, this new line of non-GMO organic smoothies incorporates blended fruits and some of the world’s best superfoods like camu camu, baobab and chia. Each of the six fresh smoothies offers vital nutrients and refreshing taste with no added flavors, colors or preservatives. >>> Twenty cents of every bottle sold goes to nonprofits that are a part of the Suja Elements Cause Collective, including Whole Kids Foundation, Whole Planet Foundation, Teens Turning Green, Citizens for GMO Labeling, New Eyes, and International Rescue Committee. The company’s goal is to raise $1 million annually on behalf of the Elements Cause Collective. >>> The six Suja Elements flavors, USDA Organic and Non-GMO Project Verified, include: >>> * 24 Karat – A blend of carrot, apple, orange, pineapple, peach, and banana. * Green Charge – Apple, pineapple, banana, mango, kiwi, kale and spinach combined with chia seed, flax seed, barley grass, spirulina, chlorella, and alfalfa. * Berryoxidant – A combination of apple, orange, strawberry, banana, raspberry, tart cherry, chia seed, flax seed, baobab, camu camu, and acai. * Mango Fuego – Blends the tropical fruit sweetness of mango with the subtle heat of serrano chili. * Blutrients – Organic blueberries, blackberries complement chia and camu camu. * Tropicaloe – A combination of electrolyte-rich coconut water with soothing aloe vera and mint.
This is what you get when you line up the founder of Naked Juice and the former president of Odwalla: an ultra-premium line of fresh and organic juices. Evolution products have enjoyed great success and built a loyal following in California, backed by Evolution founder and chairman Jimmy Rosenberg’s personal promise of freshness printed on every bottle of juice. (He's the Naked Juice guy.)
Pick up a 16-ounce bottle of BluePrint Juice Gold and there’s no mistaking what’s inside. In bold print which dwarfs the tiny company logo, three words say it all: Pineapple. Apple. Mint. “We aren’t injecting it with artifi cial vitamin D or omega-3 or something else that your body may not recognize. There is no magic powder added to it. It’s just raw, unprocessed food in its natural state,” says company co-founder Zoe Sakoutis. “It doesn’t get better than that.” Five years after launching BluePrint Cleanse as a vehicle for taking juice cleansing beyond the tree-hugging, hemp-loving crowd, and making it accessible to the curious but skeptical New Yorker, the small, delightfully irreverent company appears to be on the brink of going big - less than a year ago, the $20 million company was acquired by the Hain Celestial Group.
Pick up a 16-ounce bottle of BluePrint Juice Gold and there’s no mistaking what’s inside. In bold print which dwarfs the tiny company logo, three words say it all: Pineapple. Apple. Mint. “We aren’t injecting it with artifi cial vitamin D or omega-3 or something else that your body may not recognize. There is no magic powder added to it. It’s just raw, unprocessed food in its natural state,” says company co-founder Zoe Sakoutis. “It doesn’t get better than that.” Five years after launching BluePrint Cleanse as a vehicle for taking juice cleansing beyond the tree-hugging, hemp-loving crowd, and making it accessible to the curious but skeptical New Yorker, the small, delightfully irreverent company appears to be on the brink of going big - less than a year ago, the $20 million company was acquired by the Hain Celestial Group.
Nutrient-dense beverages are trying to get as close as they can to that unadulterated, fresh-squeezed, fresh-from-the-ground, freshy-fresh look, taste and pleasure. Here are four representatives of the New Way Forward, who get there via HPP technology (sometimes known as high-pressure processing) that preserves the drinks by pressure, not heat - which HPP experts note routinely denature the nutritional content of the contents.
We talked with Greg Steltenpohl, CEO of Califia Farms, about HPP. He said:
“In the mid-90s it became difficult to do anything that wasn’t treated for reduction of microbes. There was an incident where raw juice caused a problem, FDA said if you’re going to scale it outside farmer’s markets you need to treat this juice somehow so it’s safe. For 15 years we said flash pasteurization was the answer, but we knew heat changed the taste of the product, diminished nutrients, so it was a less satisfying product at the end of the day. So raw unpasteurized went back to the retail juice bar and never made it out until HPP–it stands for high-pressure processing/pasteurization/preservation/purification. It’s a non-thermal method of preservation using extreme pressure.
"HPP technology creates new opportunities and is clearly part of the long-term trend toward a fresher and more nutrient-dense food supply. I truly believe that nutrient-dense foods are a solution to a lot of problems–overspending on foods, high distribution costs, obesity and overeating, so nutrient-dense foods are more satisfying, fulfilling and satiating. With HPP, you get the same fresh taste and vitamin C as with fresh squeezed with 7-8 weeks shelf life. The smart money is saying let’s build more HPP facilities.”
Bottoms up!
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