New products are great. The food & beverage sector in particular thrives on new trends and movements that challenge consumers on a daily basis. We too have jumped on one of these trends and found: There are many questions. What is cold-pressed? What's different about the juice I make at home? How is it different from "regular" juice? How can juice be preserved without heat? What does HPP mean? Why does the juice settle so extremely? So we're clarifying the most important questions about cold-pressed juice in a 3-part blog series.

What is cold-pressed juice?

A cold-pressed juice differs from conventional juices in two essential characteristics. Firstly, the pressing process is carried out using a different method, and secondly, the juice is not preserved using heat.

The pressing process

Simply put, cold-pressed juice is fresh juice made by simply pressing the fruit without the use of heat. Unlike a centrifugal press, where the fruit is crushed with sharply rotating blades and the juice is then separated from the pulp by the rotation, the process of cold pressing preserves all the important nutrients and vitamins. Due to high rotational speeds and friction, heat is generated during the pressing process when using a conventional centrifugal press. In the production of cold-pressed juice, the fruit is only squeezed by means of pressure. No heat is generated during the pressing process, so the juice is gently squeezed out of the fruit.

The shelf life

The other major difference from traditional juice is the method of preservation. Conventional juices are 99% pasteurized by heat, which destroys all harmful germs and bacteria. However, the high temperature also destroys most of the vitamins and nutrients in the juice, as well as the fresh taste of the juice is also lost. Cold-pressed juice, for example, is preserved for several weeks by the high-pressure HPP process without exposing the juice to heat. The process is based on extremely high water pressure applied to the finished bottled product. The pressure "crushes" all harmful germs and bacteria, thereby inactivating them.

What is HPP?

The high pressure HPP process is a shelf life process that was discovered over 100 years ago. Despite all this, this process is a very young technology as it was forgotten in the food industry until 1990. We use this unique technology to preserve our juices. There is no heat involved in using this technology and therefore all the important vitamins and nutrients are preserved. The micro-organisms responsible for the fermentation are inactivated by means of high pressure of about 6000 bar. In the Mariannengraben, the deepest point of the sea (11km below sea level), there is comparatively a water pressure of 1100 bar. The advantage of this technology is that the fresh taste, the colour and all the important vitamins are preserved. This makes our juices true vitamin & nutrient bombs, as they retain the characteristics of a freshly squeezed juice throughout their entire shelf life.

Why does cold pressed juice settle?

This question can clearly be ranked among the top 3 most frequently asked questions. But the answer is simple. In fresh juice there are small particles such as pulp, which are heavier than the liquid part of the juice. So a long standing time can cause a set to form at the bottom of the juice. This natural separation is much more extremely noticeable in cold-pressed juice than in conventional juices, as these are homogenised by certain processes and additives. Since our juices are always 100% pressed and bottled from the fresh fruit, we do not prevent the natural separation of the juice at any time. The natural separation of a juice is definitely a positive quality characteristic that many consumers tend to perceive as a negative. At LiveFresh, our intention is to always leave our cold-pressed juice in its natural state.