FAQs

To make things easier for you, we have reviewed and collected together the most frequently asked questions about our natural organic juices in our information centre. Here you will find pretty much all the answers regarding our products and production methods. If you have any further questions, though, we’d love to hear from you.

 

What is the difference between direct juice and juice from concentrate?

Direct juice is pressed directly from fresh fruit. A direct juice contains only the fruit’s own aromas and water, which the fruit has stored and formed during its ripening process. On the other hand, when a juice is made from concentrate, the fruit’s own water is extracted from the juice, and the fruit’s volatile, natural aromas are captured. Before bottling, water and the captured aromas are then added to the concentrate. The catch is though that these aromas don’t have to come from the same fruits the concentrate was originally made from. For us, this just doesn’t seem honestly in line with the idea of natural food. For us and our customers, genuineness and originality are the main focus and that is why we only make direct juices.

 

Why do you offer products in Elo-Pak? Is this packaging really safe?

The demand for alternatives to heavy returnable bottles is now very high because many people find the handling of heavy glass bottles with refundable deposits too laborious. That’s why we wanted to offer a modern, convenient, easy-to-transport environmentally-friendly alternative to the VdF returnable bottles. We will still continue to offer our wide range of Voelkel specialities in our well-established and approved returnable glass bottles though. Some customers have expressed concerns about the presence of aluminium in the packaging, but in fact the inner layer of the beverage carton, which is what is actually in contact with the juice, is made of PE. The wafer-thin aluminium layer never comes into contact with the juice. The Elopak beverage carton is a form of packaging that is, of course, tested and approved in accordance with applicable food regulations. You wouldn’t expect anything less from us, would you?

 

What about the vitamin content in your juices?

The temperatures during processing, bottling and pasteurisation of the juice have a decisive influence on the vitamin content because vitamins are sensitive to heat. We apply the lowest possible temperatures and the shortest possible heat retention times during pasteurisation in order to offer a juice with the maximum possible natural vitamin content. We guarantee the vitamin content declared on the labels right up to the specified expiry date on those products.

Certain vitamins are also sensitive to light. There is an expert opinion available from VdF (Verband der Fruchtsaftindustrie) regarding this, which is based on comparing the breakdown of vitamin C from the same batch of orange juice stored in brown or white bottles over the course of one year. Both products were exposed to direct sunlight. The result was that the vitamin C content decreased in both the white glass and brown glass bottles and the difference was relatively small. In practice, the juice bottles are not exposed to direct sunlight or only very rarely, so we can generally assume even smaller differences in vitamin C degradation than was found in the study.

 

Why do many of your products have a sediment at the bottom?

In good fruit years the fruits, especially apples and pears, generate a lot of pectin. Pectin is a natural substance that functions as a structural substance in the plant cells. Pectin is also known as a natural gelling agent. When a juice made from fruits with a high pectin content is left standing for some time, these polysaccharides bind the trub substances, which then settle as a sediment at the bottom of the bottle.

 

Sometimes your juices and lemonades taste different. What is the reason for this?

Unfortunately, or maybe fortunately really, it is unavoidable that slight differences in taste occur between individual batches with natural products like ours. The raw materials are not always the same, and since we do not use aromas and concentrates, it is sometimes difficult to achieve exactly the same taste. At Voelkel we almost exclusively use 100% direct juice for the production of our natural organic juices and juice variations. This means that this juice is pressed directly from fresh fruits, herbs and aromatic vegetables without the additional processing step of concentrate production. The quality feature of being 100% direct juice is therefore synonymous with the original, pure taste of the juice that nature has naturally caused to mature in the fruit. A direct juice only contains the fruit’s own aromas and water, which the fruit has stored and formed during its ripening process. For Voelkel this is in line with our philosophy of producing natural organic food. However, depending on the weather conditions in the year of harvest, differences in taste due to differences in the raw materials can occur. In addition, the carbonation of lemonades is not always 100% identical, which can also lead to slight variations in taste.

 

Occasionally, your apple cider vinegar has thread formation or flocculation. Is this normal?

This is the naturally-formed “mother” of vinegar, which is created by the interaction of certain acetic acid bacteria and the naturally present trub substances in apple juice. It is a purely natural process which could only be prevented by stopping the activity of the acetic acid bacteria and the natural pectins. But this could only be done by artificial means using enzymes and heating. This would clearly damage the vinegar’s naturalness and violate the organic principles that we and our customers cherish. It has always been a part of our company philosophy to bottle our juices as naturally as possible and to avoid the use of additives.

 

What is to be understood by the term “non-hybrid”?

Our family business actively supports independent seed research. This is important to avoid the situation where a few large corporations own all the seeds worldwide. The focus is therefore on non-hybrid varieties that are reproducible. We use, for example, only non-hybrid Demeter varieties for the production of our field-fresh vegetable juices, sauerkraut juice and ciders.

Non-hybrid seed varieties are cultured in biodynamic breeding work exclusively through selection and not through genetic engineering. Non-hybrid varieties pass on their characteristics and are capable of reproduction without restriction. The opposite is a so-called hybrid, which results from crossing two inbred lines. The seeds resulting from hybrids are worthless for the farmer, as they only guarantee good yields in one generation, after which the cultivated characteristics are lost again. The use of hybrids puts an end to the free reproduction and regional adaptation and the improvement of varieties. Therefore Voelkel focuses specifically on non-hybrid varieties.

“Inner values, special vitality and character”: Image-generating methods have shown that non-hybrid varieties have higher vitality than hybrids. Non-hybrid varieties have a quantitatively higher proportion of vegetable sugar, with a high proportion of disaccharides. This is an indication of good ripening capacity. They are very aromatic and sweet. Their dry matter content is also higher. Their nitrate content is often lower than that of hybrids. In addition, they have a very distinctive, and we reckon, better taste. Unfortunately, hybrids are what are mostly used in agriculture nowadays because they have a uniform shape, large fruits and high yields.

 

Can you explain the short pasteurisation used at Voelkel?

Our family business actively supports independent seed research. This is important to avoid the situation where a few large corporations own all the seeds worldwide. The focus is therefore on non-hybrid varieties that are reproducible. We use, for example, only non-hybrid Demeter varieties for the production of our field-fresh vegetable juices, sauerkraut juice and ciders.

Non-hybrid seed varieties are cultured in biodynamic breeding work exclusively through selection and not through genetic engineering. Non-hybrid varieties pass on their characteristics and are capable of reproduction without restriction. The opposite is a so-called hybrid, which results from crossing two inbred lines. The seeds resulting from hybrids are worthless for the farmer, as they only guarantee good yields in one generation, after which the cultivated characteristics are lost again. The use of hybrids puts an end to the free reproduction and regional adaptation and the improvement of varieties. Therefore Voelkel focuses specifically on non-hybrid varieties.

“Inner values, special vitality and character”: Image-generating methods have shown that non-hybrid varieties have higher vitality than hybrids. Non-hybrid varieties have a quantitatively higher proportion of vegetable sugar, with a high proportion of disaccharides. This is an indication of good ripening capacity. They are very aromatic and sweet. Their dry matter content is also higher. Their nitrate content is often lower than that of hybrids. In addition, they have a very distinctive, and we reckon, better taste. Unfortunately, hybrids are what are mostly used in agriculture nowadays because they have a uniform shape, large fruits and high yields.

 

What about lactic acid fermentation at Voelkel?

  1. The vegetables are harvested, washed and immediately pressed fresh
  2. The juice is put into a vat and inoculated with the lactic acid to start the fermentation process
  3. The fermentation is controlled for about three days until a certain pH level is reached. This step is then stopped with a short pasteurisation.

 

Why are Voelkel’s lactic acid fermented juices pasteurised?

All our juices are pasteurised to preserve them with the least possible loss of nutritional value. This also applies to our lactic acid-fermented juices.
Our pasteurised juices contain:
– lactic acid (L +)
– vitamins A, B, C, K
– minerals

They are very low in calories, practically fat-free and improve bowel functioning:
– They ensure a healthy digestion with a detoxifying effect, which is particularly useful and especially valuable during detoxification therapies.
– They are very easy to digest thanks to the lactic acid fermentation. As an acid corrective they can have a positive effect on heartburn.
– They can contribute to the regeneration of gut microbiota. This is often sufficient to rebuild the existing intestinal microbiota.
– In addition, lactic acid can inhibit the growth of undesirable intestinal bacteria.

Any juice that is not lactic acid-fermented does not have the advantages mentioned above.

Note: This is not a probiotic drink. Even if it were not pasteurised, it would only be partly considered as a probiotic food because the quantity and selection of lactic acid bacteria would not be sufficient.

 

How do Voelkel’s lactic acid-fermented vegetable juices differ from those produced by other people?

Without getting over-technical about it, we reckon our juices taste much better, being more rounded and natural. This is all down to the composition of the juices. Juices that use concentrates and artificial additives just can’t compare to our totally natural direct juices.  We allow Mother Nature to do her work and just do our best to get it to you untainted by human intervention. Try them and tell us what you think.