Keeping the Goodness in Your Juice

Vitamin C is a big deal for our health. It's like a bodyguard, keeping us safe from harm. But it's also quite delicate. Heat can easily wreck it. That's why traditional juice-making methods can cause a huge loss. Up to 70% of Vitamin C can disappear. That's a lot! But don't worry, science has a solution. New techniques are being used to make juice without too much heat. These are called non-thermal technologies. They include things like pulsed electric fields, high-pressure processing, and cold plasma. The best part? They're great at keeping Vitamin C intact. Some methods can save over 90% of it. For example, pineapple juice treated with pulsed light keeps 71% of its Vitamin C. That's way better than the 35% kept by regular pasteurization. Similarly, tomato juice processed with cold plasma can retain up to 95% of its Vitamin C. That's almost all of it!These new methods do more than just save Vitamin C. They also help keep the juice's natural taste, color, and other nutrients. So, the juice not only tastes better but is also healthier. But there's still more to do. Scientists need to figure out how to use these methods on a large scale. They need to make sure they're energy-efficient and safe for big production. If they can do that, these non-thermal processing methods might become the new standard. So, next time you drink a glass of fruit juice, think about the science behind it. It might have been made in a way that keeps all the good stuff in it.