Pressed Maurer's juices

Pressed Juices mean a quality that cannot be compared with juices made of concentrate. They are flavourful, cloudy, dense and valuable. Those from Tłocznia Maurera in their ecological version have many aromas, some of them have been forgotten long time ago. Because BIO Maurer’s Juices are come from old varieties of apples, which are typically Polish, aromatic and quite sour!

Maurer’s BIO juices are pressed from Polish, ecological fruit. Fruits are squeezed in the press and bottled with no sugar, water or preservatives added. BIO means that juices are pressed from fruits that have been grown without the use of any artificial fertilizers and pesticides. Their seeds have neither been genetically modified nor subjected to any radiation. It all has began in Zarzecze village, located by Dunajec river in Łącko commune. Orchards on the slopes of the mountain were founded by the mill owners grandfather, Krzysztof Maurer. Krzysztof Maurer studied at Agricultural University, and his biggest dream was to maintain the tradition of growing fruits in Łącko. In 2002 a traditional, ecological press was installed on the farm. Juices are the cold-pressed, so they do not lose their valuable vitamins and trace elements. To ensure long life of the juice, it is pasteurized at low temperature.

How does the production of juice look like? Fortunately, I was lucky to see the production process and taste a wide range of juices from the workshop. Everything takes place in a small hall, which is much, much smaller than big concerns production halls. Fragrant fruits after thorough washing, are transported into the feeder, which sends them to the press. Inside, the fruits are crushed and pressed. Juice flowing from the press is cloudy and it remains such. And it is what distinguishes it from juices made from a concentrate. In this case, in order to get a concentrate the water from fruits should be evaporated, and then during production water is added once again. Unfortunately, the juice loses a lot of nutrients as well as its taste, because nothing can replace the original cellular water.

Maurer’s juices can be divided into several categories. The first type are one flavour juices: apple, pear, grape and plum. The second one – mixed juices, such as: cherry with apple, raspberry with apple, wild cherry and apple, rhubarb with apple, beetroot with apple or chokeberry with apple. In this case the proportion of juice is 70% of basic fruit and 30% of apple juice and apple juice is used to sweeten the core fruits. We usually do not think about it, but most of these fruits, especially in BIO version, are too sour to drink them alone. Because the real juice should not be sweetened with sugar – Tłocznia Maurera uses old Polish apple varieties. The third category of Tłocznia Maurera juices are very successful apple with mint and apple with lemon balm (in proportions 95% apples and 5% herbs).

I have tasted almost all juices from Tłocznia Maurera. I definitely like them – for their freshness and sour taste, but naturally I have their favourites. Absolutely the first place is taken by a wild cherry-apple juice, because wild cherries are my absolute favourite fruits. Another favourite one is the pear juice. Cherry-apple and plum are constantly battling for the next place, but a favourite one depends on your mood, because I can never make up my mind which I do like more. Of course a pure apple juice is not taking part in the competition, because it is absolutely unbeatable when compared with the juices from “big companies”, recreated from a concentrate.

Please note that the juices pressed from BIO fruits will always be much more sour than popular juices made from concentrate, nectars or drinks. If you do not like sour juices - I recommend Łąckie Ogrody series, also produced in Maurer’s Manufacture. In this case, the fruits do not come from BIO crops, and the juices themselves are very sweet. Juices from Tłocznia Maurera (both BIO and Łąckie Ogrody) are available in bottles – 0,3 and 0,7l as well as in large, 5l cartons. The cartons have plastic bags with a vacuum tap inside, so after opening the juice will not go bad.