Stormy birth of spinach super juice
WHEN a freak hailstorm battered the spinach crop in Philip Maddocks’s 20-acre field in 2013, the leaves were left so bruised he knew no supermarket would buy them.
Philip, a third generation lettuce and spinach farmer near Newport, Shropshire, says: ‘We knew it still tasted good and had the necessary vitamins, but it wasn’t aesthetically pleasing.’
Keen not to waste the vast crop, Philip and his family decided to juice it — something they already did for themselves at home.
What they produced tasted so good that they decided to do it on a larger scale.
Now, as well as producing whole-head lettuces and spinach, the Maddocks family produces a whole range of vegetable and fruit juices, called B.Fresh. Made with pure fruit and vegetables and with no added sugar, they are cold-pressed, which is said to preserve more nutrients than the more common centrifugal method that uses a spinning blade and metal mesh to extract the juice.
Ingredients include cucumber, beetroot, kale, ginger, lime and carrot, all of which are washed with spring water and pressed to make a smooth, pulp-free drink.
Preservatives can interfere with nutrient levels, so to make sure the juices have a decent shelf life, the bottles are put in a chamber, flooded with cold water and subjected to three minutes of high pressure, which keeps them fresher for longer. Known as HPP (High Pressure Plant), the process kills off micro spoiling organisms, which extends the shelf-life without spoiling the taste.
As well as tasting delicious, the juices are low in calories — the apple/spinach/kale/lemon juice has the most, with 100 calories in a 250ml bottle, while most hover around 60 calories a bottle. The celery/cucumber/romaine/spinach/ kale/ginger/ lemon version has just 28.
‘We hope they are not just for people who want to detox, but for those with busy lives who want to get more nutrients and vitamins into their diets,’ says Philip.
B.Fresh juices cost from £2 per bottle at independent coffee shops, or £15 for six bottles at b-fresh.co.uk, and can be delivered anywhere in Britain.