What concentrate is, and why we do not use it

Most juice in a supermarket goes through this route: the fruit is pressed, the juice is heated until most of its water evaporates, and a dark syrup is left behind. That syrup is concentrate. Because its volume is small it is cheap to store and ship. At bottling, water is added and the juice is “reconstituted”.

What is lost along the way?

Heat takes two things: aroma and heat-sensitive nutrients. Most aroma molecules are volatile and leave with the steam. Industry solves this by capturing the aroma during evaporation and adding it back later. When a label says “aroma” or “natural flavouring”, this is usually what it means.

The result is not necessarily a bad product; it is a standard, cheap and durable one. But it is not the taste of the fruit itself.

What we do

We press the fruit cold. Because no heat is applied, there is no evaporation and no adding back. The only thing that goes into the bottle is pomegranate juice — no water, no sugar, no concentrate, no preservative, no colouring.

The price of this is shelf life and cost. A product that has not been heat treated needs a cold chain and has to be drunk sooner. That is also why our bottle costs more than one rebuilt from concentrate.

What to look for on a label

• A one-line ingredient list is a good sign. “100% pomegranate juice” and “pomegranate juice concentrate, water” are not the same thing.
• “Fruit nectar” is a different category; it contains water and usually sugar.
• Storage instructions that say room temperature usually mean the product has been heat treated.

This is not written to disparage cheaper products, but to show that two different things are sold under one name.