Fork. Spoon. Life.:
Healthy juices.
Devon Brent grew up with dreams of being in the U.S. Senate, with big plans for law school. A health crisis, emergency ambulance trip and dealing with the lifelong effects of Crohn’s Disease set him on a different path.
When he tried juicing and it worked for him, he wanted to spread the word. While finishing up his political science degree, he founded Healthy Roots. Brent, 24, started selling at the Brookfield Farmers Market last year, and that’s where he met a venture capitalist inspired by his story. They built a plant, hired employees, and in August, Healthy Roots became the first USDA-certified organic cold-pressed juice company in Wisconsin.
They just launched nationwide shipping, featuring free shipping for all Wisconsin residents. Juices are available at the Brookfield and Delafield farmers markets and at Good Harvest Market in Pewaukee. Additional retail outlets, including Festival Foods, are in the works.
Crohn’s as catalyst
It goes back to 2008 when I was diagnosed with Crohn’s Disease. I was 16 and in high school. I had a really severe case. I’ve had over 30 hospitalizations now, four different surgeries, including the total removal of my large intestine.
What brought me to juicing was my battle with my disease. I’ve seen the “best doctors in the world,” I was at Mayo, Cleveland Clinic and University of Chicago. My disease activity was so severe, all the typical medications weren’t helping. That was my catalyst.
Big changes
After my total colectomy in 2014, I was able to have a direct reconnect, essentially they take your small intestine and hook it right back up to your bowel. Your small bowel over the course of time acts as both.
I was down to 100 pounds, almost died. I was going to school in La Crosse, and I took an emergency ambulance to Mayo. It took me 12 months to fully recover. I took a year off from school and started to do a lot of research. I started seeing a functional medicine practitioner in La Crosse.
This was four years ago. He was really big into juicing. I didn’t know what a cold-pressed juice was.
Turning point
I grew up eating very poorly. I grew up eating a lot of fast food, a lot of soda. When I was diagnosed, I realized how important diet is.
When I started juicing, eradicated gluten and dairy from my diet, my entire disease and life completely changed. I really attribute that to juicing every day.
Getting started
I bought an in-home juicer, but the issue is it is so much work. It is a hassle, and to buy pounds and pounds of produce every day can be a lot. I want to implement this every day. There has to be a better way.
Brookfield beginning
Our launching platform was at the Brookfield farmers market. That’s where we started the company last year to test if this was something people would want. We did about 40 juices a week. That was all I could make. Now we do about 100 juices a week there.
The power of 3
Currently, we manufacture and sell three different flavors: Vitalize, made with apple, carrot, pineapple, beet, lemon and lime. Fortitude is our green juice with apple, cucumber, kale, spinach, lemon and lime. Then we have Melonade, a little play off Gatorade, which is watermelon, apple, lemon and lime.
Don’t underestimate him
When I run demonstrations, people are usually pretty surprised to hear I’m the owner of the company. Everyone thinks I’m a part-time sampler. I do demonstrations Tuesdays at Good Harvest in Waukesha.
Drink your veggies
Most of us don’t have a hard time getting the fruits, but it is the veggies. I can throw in 5 cups of greens and it takes seconds to drink that.
What he’s learned
Adding an apple makes a nice sweet base. It also has a lot of really awesome vitamins. Apples essentially give you a sweet kind of flavor. Then you can throw in a lot of your leafy greens, spinach, kale and Swiss chard, all those power greens.
The kicker for me is adding in citrus, my lemon and lime. That is an awesome way to add flavor without adding any sugar.
Flavor favorite
Our most popular one is our Vitalize juice with apple, pineapple, carrot, beet, lemon and lime. Every single bottle of juice has 2 pounds of raw produce.
Going green
I went out for weeks and bought all of the different green juices I could find. I’d play with flavors. What is palatable and will still give you benefits?
For me the big difference was using a tart Granny Smith apple and adding a lot of lime. That lime, that citrus, helps mask the bitterness of the greens.
Goal-oriented
I started out by renting a kitchen at Easter Seals in Waukesha, buying all the produce at Woodman’s, juicing and labeling everything by hand. My vision was to get to the point I am at today. I figured it would take five to six years, but I met my business partner and here we are.
What doesn’t juice
I love banana and thought I’d be able to make awesome banana juices. Then I found out it has to be a puree, you can’t get any liquid ..... A lot of things that can’t be juiced make great smoothies.
Not just juice
I just hosted a cocktail event. We make “juice-tails.” A big trend at a lot of bars in Chicago, New York City and California, these high-end cocktail bars only serve fresh cold-pressed juices.
Bars are getting these tabletop juicers making combinations like watermelon cucumber juice, throw in a cucumber vodka. That category has really been blowing up, and we just trademarked the name Healthy Spirits. Fork. Spoon. Life. explores the everyday relationship that local notables (within the food community and without) have with food. To suggest future personalities to profile, email nstohs@journalsentinel.com.