Where the fruit, tea and water come from

The most variable inputs in this estate, and the ones a specification has to pin down.

Four inputs, four problems

Produce is seasonal and variable. Botanicals carry a microbial load. Water is free and unspecified. And ingredients are industrial and sold in quantities you cannot use.

Produce

Buy on specification rather than on name: Brix, acidity, variety and condition.

Fresh gives you a story and a supply problem: seasonality, price swings, and a two-day window between perfect and unusable.

Frozen gives consistency, year-round supply and no waste, and costs the fresh claim. Many serious small producers use it and say so.

Bought juice, single strength or concentrate, pasteurized or not, is the most consistent and the most distant from the story. Ask whether it is pasteurized, because it changes your own process.

And inspect on arrival. Damaged fruit carries a far higher microbial load, and in an unpasteurized product that load goes into the bottle.

Tea, coffee and botanicals

Agricultural products that vary by lot and by harvest, so record the lot and taste before committing a batch.

Dry botanicals carry a microbial load into a product with no kill step, which matters far more here than in a cooked food.

Buy food grade from a supplier who documents it, and be careful with anything whose safe use level is unclear.

Water and ingredients

Water is an ingredient and belongs on the formula sheet with its treatment specified.

Sugar, acids, flavors and preservatives come from food ingredient distributors in industrial quantities, and specialist repackers serve small makers at a premium.

Ask for specifications, certificates of analysis and allergen information for all of them, and keep the paperwork with the batch it was used in.

References