Tart-Cherry-Juice-Concentrate-Buyers-Guide

Tart Cherry Juice Concentrate Buyers Guide

Tart Cherry Juice Concentrate

Buyer’s Guide

Written by Francis C. Kline


About the Author:

Ms. Kline lives in the Livonia Michigan, a suburb of Detroit with her family. She is an

active writer on the subject of natural health. Ms. Kline is passionate about living a

healthy and natural lifestyle.

Over the past five years she has transformed her life from being overweight and lacking

personal energy to running over 4 miles per day and spending time with her kids and

grandchildren.

This book is dedicated to my grandfather Robert Smith. He owned a farm in Northern

Michigan near Traverse City. I remember spending my youth on his farm milking the

cows, picking fresh apples, raspberries and cherries. I also remember my grandfather

telling me and my brothers about the health benefits of all of the fruits and vegetables

he grew on his farm.

But of everything he grew on his property he truly loved the tart cherry. I have fond

memories running through his cherry orchards when they were in full blossom. I also

remembered all of the stories of how the tart cherry helped to stop his gout and

arthritis pain. He would tell us how he would drink a glass of cherry juice every day

from his own cherries and how he could walk without joint pain. However, it wasn’t

until I became an adult with my own joint pain did I truly appreciate his insight and

wisdom.

I believe tart cherry juice concentrate is what made him so active and energetic until

his last days. I recently found many of his notes about farming, harvesting cherries

producing tart cherry juice concentrate and what to look for in a tart cherry juice

product. I know you will truly enjoy his pearls of wisdom.

Francis


The Montmorency Tart Cherry

The majority of the U.S. tart cherry crop is grown in Northwestern Lower Michigan. The

unique micro-climate and mineral-rich soil area of

northwestern Michigan produces a wide variety of

agricultural products including cherries, apples, peaches

and more. In fact, the area stretching along hundreds of

miles of the Lake Michigan shoreline produces some of

the world's finest fruit.

In addition, Traverse City, the largest city located in Northwestern Lower Michigan is

called the “cherry capital of the world”. The reason for this nickname is this region

grows over 60% of all of the tart cherries in the U.S. In fact, this area of Michigan is

credited with being the location of the very first commercial tart cherry farm in the

United States.

The History of the Tart Cherry

This history of the tart cherry and the history of the State of Michigan intertwines. In

fact, the very first tart cherry tree was planted on Old Mission Peninsula (near Traverse

City) in 1852 by Peter Dougherty. Mr. Dougherty was a Presbyterian missionary living

on Old Mission Peninsula.

Much to the surprise of the other farmers and Indians who lived in the area,

Dougherty's tart cherry farm and trees flourished and soon other residents of the area

started their very own cherry farms. The area proved to be ideal for growing sweet and

tart cherries because Lake Michigan Arctic winds sweep the orchards in the winter and

helps to cool the orchards in summer.


The first commercial tart cherry

farms in the Traverse Bay area

were planted in 1893 on

Ridgewood Farm near the site of

Dougherty's original plantings on

Old Mission Peninsula. By the

early 1900s, the tart cherry

industry was firmly established

in the state with orchards not

only in the Traverse City area,

but all along Lake Michigan from

Benton Harbor to Elk Rapids. Soon production surpassed other major crops.

The first cherry processing facility, Traverse City Canning Company, was built just south

of Traverse City, and the ruby-red tart cherry fruit was soon shipped to Chicago, Detroit

and Milwaukee.

The Montmorency is the primary variety of tart cherry grown in the region. It was

planted in the early orchards and is still used today. These type of tart cherry fruit is

excellent for pies, preserves and juice. The newest American variety of tart cherry is the

Balaton. Dr. Amy Iezzoni developed this tart cherry variety at Michigan State University.

It currently has limited production, but has great potential for the fresh market and for

juice.


So What Makes the 18 Mile Long Old Mission Peninsula So special?

Some of the reasons the Old Mission Peninsula is so fruitful is the high hills, the

surrounding water and the wind

drainage. The geographical area of

Old Mission makes it an ideal place to

grow cherries since the snow during

the winter months actually help to

keep the orchards warm in the winter

and the wind from the surrounding

lakes cools the orchards during the

summer months.

Old Mission Peninsula boasts over 2.6 million cherry trees and since a single cherry tree

produces about 7,000 cherries, this means the Old Mission Peninsula produces

approximately 18,200,000,000 tart cherries every harvest season.

The Montmorency Tart Cherry

The Montmorency variety of the cherry family is extremely delicate. This is the reason

you probably won’t find fresh

Montmorency tart cherries in the

produce section of your local

grocery store. The majority of the

Montmorency tart cherries are used

as an ingredient in recipes including

cherry pies, cherry recipes, cherry

powder and tart cherry juice

concentrate. However, before learn


about how to select tart cherry juice concentrate for your lifestyle, let’s learn how the

cherries are grown and harvested from blossom to bottle.

The cherry blossoms are a beautiful white and make a perfect

backdrop for a family picnic. As the orchards fill with cherry

blossoms, they are extremely beautiful and a relaxing place to

enjoy a relaxing stroll. As you can see from the following

photo the cherry orchards are an excellent contrast to the

following countryside.

The cherry harvest occurs in mid July

to early August. As the cherries get

ready for harvest a number of

workers, farm equipment and

“shakers” descend upon the orchards

to gather all of the cherries.

During the harvest, the main work

horse equipment is the “shaker”.

Since the average tree produces over

7,000 cherries, the shaker replaces the need to handpick each cherry from the 2.6

million cherry trees.


The Cherry Shaker

The shaker grabs each tree and shakes the cherries free. As you can see in the photos

below, the shaker also has a canopy to catch the fallen cherries. Once the cherries are

shaken from the tree a conveyor belt carries the freshly harvested cherries to a tank of

cool water.

The photo below shows a conveyer belt full of recently shaken cherries.


The operators view of the shaker, canopy and conveyor belt.

A close up view of the canopy and conveyor belt.


Once the cherries are shaken from the trees they are then transferred to a processing

station where the twigs, leaves and other debris are removed.

After the foreign objects are removed at the first set of processing stations they are

moved to another area where the freshly picked tart cherries are sorted, pitted and sent

for further down the line for processing. At the following stations in the processing

cycle, the cherries are then washed repeatedly. Here are some photos of the tart

cherries being processing in the plant.


Once the tart cherries are sorted and pitted, many of

them are then pressed to make cherry juice. The juice

is then placed through a number of quality assurance

and quality controls screens to ensure the juice is

completely filtered of foreign objects. The cherry juice

is then pasteurized and concentrated and placed into

52 gallon drums.

At this point the cherry juice concentrate is then

bottled, frozen or packaged into 52 gallon drums for

future use.


Tart Cherry Juice Concentrate

It takes approximately 100 tart cherries to make just one ounce of tart cherry juice

concentrate. Cherry juice concentrate is a super charged way of getting the anti-oxidant

benefits of the tart cherry.

Here are six areas consumers should look for when selecting tart cherry juice

concentrate. These include:

The type of cherry used to produce the juice

Quality of the cherry juice concentrate

Taste – Reflected by the crispness of the juice

How is the cherry juice packaged

How stable is the product

Does the product offer a sediment-free guarantee

Type of Cherry Used to Produce the Juice:

Many different types of cherries exist on the market today. These include sweet,

balaton, tart, etc. Although all of these varieties are from the cherry family, however

the majority of research you read about the health benefits of cherries has been

conducted on the tart cherry.

Quality of the cherry juice:

Unfortunately, not all cherry juice concentrate products are the same. One very

important area you should consider is the brix (pronounced bricks) level of the cherry

juice purchase. Brix is the measurement of quality for tart cherry juice concentrate.

The brix is the measurement of the amount of naturally occurring sugar in the cherry

juice. Cherry juice is measured at 68 brix. Be sure to know the brix level in any cherry

product you buy and make sure it is of 68 brix. The brix information should be printed


on the product label or published on the website. If the brix level of a concentrate is

lower than 68 brix, you should inquiry why this number is less than the 68 marker.

Quality companies will tell you they offer 68 brix concentrate on both their labels and

in their advertising.

Taste – Reflected by the crispness of the juice:

Like any other consumable product you would purchase, taste is very important.

Cherry juice is available is a number of different options including plastic bottles,

aluminum cans and glass bottles. One of the main benefits of drinking cherry juice

from a glass bottle is that glass bottles help to prevent plastic leaching.

Leaching is a well known fact in the food industry. Leaching occurs when a product is

bottled in a plastic container and the food actually pulls or “leaches” plastic molecules

from the bottle directly into the food.

Fortunately, leaching is not a concern for cherry juice packed in glass bottles.

Bottling of Cherry Juice: Bottling for cherry juice is available in two ways:

cold-packed and hot packed. Below is a basic definition of each:

Cold-packed – Some companies that follow the cold-packing bottling

process simply pump cherry juice concentrate from 52 gallon drums directly

into individual bottles. Cold-packing is also the less expensive way to bottle

cherry juice concentrate since some companies simply fill their bottles over a

utility sink. In addition, companies selling cold-packed cherry juice indicate

cold-packed cherry juice must be refrigerated. It is also wise to have cherry

juice concentrate that is processed in plastic bottles to be shipped in a

refrigerated container. However, many companies selling plastic bottle

cherry juice concentrate don’t refrigerate their products while shipping. This

simply doesn’t make sense. It would be like shipping a gallon of milk across

the country and telling the customer to immediately refrigerate upon arrival.

This simply doesn’t make sense.


Hot-packed - The cherry juice is pumped from a 52 gallon drum, flash

pasteurized, and then packed into individual bottles. Hot-packed cherry juice

concentrate is shelf-stable and doesn't need refrigeration during shipping,

storage or until the product is open. After the product is open it does need

to be refrigerated. Hot-packed cherry juice can be shipped without

refrigeration and is shelf stable. The hot-pack process is very similar to the

canning process where all of the oxygen is removed from the bottle. Hot-

packed concentrate is packed in glass bottles. Glass bottles eliminate the

fear of “leaching”

Unfortunately, some companies lead the consumer to believe cold-packed

cherry juice is never heated (pasteurized). This is simply not true. Cherry

juice concentrate is packed in 52 gallon drums and prior to the cherry juice

being packed in these drums the product is flash pasteurized or heated.

Thus, if a company simply pumps the cherry juice from 52 gallon drums and

fills individual bottles the cherry juice has been heated. If a company

indicates that their product is cold-packed and has not been heated, they

may not be telling the whole truth.

Stability: Product stability is vital not only for shipping purposes but also

storage. The majority of companies selling cherry juice are selling cold-packed

in plastic bottles. This means the product should be refrigerated during shipping

and storage. Yet many of these companies freely ship cold-packed cherry juice

across the country in unrefrigerated cardboard boxes with statements saying

the product must be refrigerated when the product is received. This simply

doesn't make since. It would be similar to shipping a gallon of milk from New

Jersey to Texas in a cardboard box and asking the customer to place it in the

refrigerator when it arrives. Hot-packed cherry juice can be shipped without

refrigeration and stored without refrigeration.


Sediment-Free Guarantee: Sedimentation is a concern for many cherry juice

drinks. Sedimentation occurs when the concentrate breaks apart and thick

residue settles on the bottle of the bottle. Sedimentation may be a result of

poor quality concentrate or a poor bottling process. Look for cherry juice

products that offer a sediment free guarantee.

One brand of tart cherry juice concentrate that meets all of these criteria is the

tart cherry juice concentrate available from Traverse Bay Farms

www.TraverseBayFarms.com or call them toll-free at 1-877-746-7477

In addition to offering tart cherry juice concentrate, Traverse Bay Farms also

offers tart cherry capsules, tart cherry powder, dried tart cherries and more.

Another company that meets all of these criteria for cherry juice concentrate is

Sky View Farms. The company offers fresh cherries, canned cherries and cherry

juice concentrate. Sky View Farms can be contacted 1-616-565-7488

http://www.traversebayfarms.com/

Tart-Cherry-Juice-Concentrate-Buyers-Guide

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