The earthy nature of healthy cold pressed juice

On relocating to Kenya with her partner, Tsholofelo Kamau hoped to continue incorporating cold pressed fruits and vegetable juices into her regular diet. Only problem was, there were no readily available cold pressed juices on the market. So she started making her own, and thus Terra which means earth was birthed.

3-step washing process

Once the fresh ingredients are weighed, they are washed to get rid of dirt. “We then peel the produce, especially those that come from the soil like beetroots, ginger and carrots. This is because we cannot monitor the soil pH from all our sources of produce,” says Tsholo, further explaining that the soil pH plays a big role in the flavour of the final product. Since they do not add sugar or flavour enhancers, it’s important the produce be flavourful.

Soaking is the last step. The peeled produce is soaked in a food grade solution for about 5 to 10 minutes. This ensures any pesticides, herbicides and residue that may have been transferred to the fruits and vegetables during peeling are completely removed.

This step is critical. “Since we don’t cook nor pasteurise our produce, we need to ensure all residue and pesticides are gone to maintain the quality and integrity of the juice.”

“We also cannot really guarantee organic in Kenya, at least not to the international standards, even as many farmers claim to be organic. So we play it safe.”

Cold pressing

Once washing is done, the fruits and veggies are passed through a shoot where they are shredded into a pulp as they fall into a bag awaiting cold pressing.

Once in the bag, the shredded produce is exposed to a hydraulic press where two plates, like a nice massage, gently but firmly, exert 40 tonnes of pressure on the produce. The pressure squeezes the juice and water content from the produce causing it to drip into a collection tray called a gastronorm below, leaving behind dry fibre content in the filter bag. “It is a very efficient way of juicing,” Tsholo admits. The fibre left behind is generally composted, recycled in food products or discarded. In Tsholo’s case, they give it to Taka Taka solution who compost it to fertiliser. Previously, they gave the fibre to a pig rearing farmer. The pressed juiced is then packaged and refrigerated.

Terra juices have a shelf life of a maximum five days as they contain no preservatives.

To ensure they are delivering only fresh juice to the market, Tsholo and her team juice daily. “We juice about 12 litres per recipe, per day. We stock small batches more frequently as opposed to a big batch once in a while to regulate wastage. Over the 16 months we have been in production, we have also encouraged preorders and learned our clients, so we don’t overproduce juice that ends up going bad.”

The 195kg machine can juice between 75 and 150 liters per hour depending on workflow - the time it takes to wash, weigh and peel the ingredients – and the recipe. “The leafy greens produce less juice compared to fruits like watermelons and oranges which produce more juice due to their high water content.

The recipes are adopted from Good Nature, the same company where she purchased the juicing machine from, and adjusted for the Kenyan market. “American has been juicing for a long time and their recipes tend to be less sweet. So we adjust the recipes for sweetness.”

They started out with 5 recipes, but discontinued the beetroot one on realising, it wasn’t popular. However, it is still available on special order. Of the other four, the breezy green, which Good Nature calls sweet green, is the most popular. It comprises pineapple cucumber, apple and mint.

Cold pressing versus blending

Cold pressed juice can be taken anywhere, anytime and without the pulp, it doesn’t make one unnecessarily full. It is therefore a good alternative to boxed juices and soda and a good food accompaniment. “Its absorption into the body is much quicker as you are not digesting any pulp as opposed to blended juices where you have to digest the pulp.”

Cold pressing is also superior in the mechanism used in producing the juice. “When you use a centrifugal mechanism, which is what blenders have, the produce is chopped up and flung into a fast spinning screen, which forces the juice out by centrifugal force causing the blades tend to heat up. This means that to some extent, you are semi-cooking the fruits and vegetables thus denaturing them and exposing them to quicker oxidation,” she explains saying, the compromise on the integrity of the fruits and veggies is especially worse in restaurants and bars where the blender is used continually throughout the day. 

As the name suggests, cold pressing exerts no heat to the veggies and fruits, thus preserving its nutrients which translates to a longer shelf life. Centrifugal juice, on the other hand, contains more pulp, so it breaks down faster than juice made on a press.

Safety and cleaning

Parts of the machine can be removed by hand, making it as easy to clean as it is to produce juice. Machine parts can be washed, rinsed, and sanitised according to your standard procedures.

It also contains intuitive safety features that keep your staff safe even in the most demanding environments. Safety features include automatic shut-off, and emergency stop button.  

Smartharvest@standardmedia.co.ke