Hello friends, my name is Emamuzo and I am really excited to be a part of this wonderful group. I will be sharing a few things I have learned in the agribusiness and food processing sector of our economy. One of this few things is the art of juice making. I know that many of you may already know what juice making is all about, but don't be in a hurry to judge, because I will be exposing you to some exciting and highly nutritious fruits and vegetables that are economically viable when processed to make juice.
This is my all amazing entrance scene. In about two days I will be posting the very first of the Juice Revolution series. This will be on a crop found almost every time of the year in the market and is enjoyed by almost, if not every Nigerian.

Have a beautiful day ahead.

am all eyes and am following with kin interest am all eyes and am following with kin interest

Very interested in this thread because I juice and sell to my neighbours and colleagues in the office. I've limited my material to mainly watermelon, pineapples and oranges. Let's share ideas on how to take it further.

take a front seat... OP and Annamaria pls make it practical as much as possible. thanks in advance

Very interested op, trailing with keen interest.

A picture of my first production. I made a few bottles for a start.

I went to Mile 12 and Ketu markets, bought watermelons, pineapples, cucumber, carrots, mangoes, oranges, lemons and ginger. My first few bottles consisted of everything. It was a learning curve. It was time consuming and stressful because of the cleaning process. I had to sterilise everything with vinegar. I didn't want anyone to fall sick because of my product.

annamaria:
A picture of my first production. I made a few bottles for a start.

I went to Mile 12 and Ketu markets, bought watermelons, pineapples, cucumber, carrots, mangoes, oranges, lemons and ginger. My first few bottles consisted of everything. It was a learning curve. It was time consuming and stressful because of the cleaning process. I had to sterilise everything with vinegar. I didn't want anyone to fall sick because of my product.

inviting juice,well done remaining cost n method analysis

I am really glad that you have picked interest in this topic. Nevertheless Let me go straight out to the business of today.

CUCUMBER JUICE: THE HOW TOs
First of all, the nutritional values. You might be wondering why I am starting off with cucumber, so here are the reasons:

1. It is a natural diuretic (meaning it promotes the production of urine; very good for people with High blood pressure).
2. Can be used to relieve some of heart burn, acid stomach, gastritis and ulcer.
3. It is rich in Potassium which helps regulate blood pressure.
4. It is good for diabetics, kidney, urinary bladder, liver and pancreas.
and many other things.

Based on the researches done by my colleagues on the production of the newbie in the juice production industry, I can boldly tell you that cucumber juice is a one stop all nutritious and satisfying drink to get into the market.

As you already know cucumber by itself is quite in-between the sweet and bitter. For this reason we will be using a natural sweetener (either pineapple or orange). Below is a bit of the production process. By my next post I will be telling you about MONEY!!

STEP 1: Get desired amount of cucumbers and wash very well with clean water.
STEP 2: Peal them.
STEP 3: Place them in a grinding machine and grind them properly.
STEP 4: Put well ground cucumber in a clean sack bag or a sifter with very tiny holes and squeeze to extract the juice from the cucumber. Make you don't waste the juice by not squeezing thoroughly.
STEP 5: You can further filter the extracted juice to make it finer.
STEP 6: Add your desired sweetener if you don't like it bare; In my case I added juice extracts from pineapple.
STEP 7: Bottle and store in a cool and dry place or in your freezer.

For a more advanced production process that suites the NAFDAC policies, pasteurization is required to kill bacteria.

This is basically all that is needed to make cucumber juice. Though there are advanced processes that require specialized machines (for those that want to go professional).

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Hope you found my post useful. See you in two days.

This interesting.... I love to venture into this after perfecting my production plans.... But if you love to buy cuccumber you can contact my, I have a farm and I know alot of farmers that can supply it also

Adegbem01:
This interesting.... I love to venture into this after perfecting my production plans.... But if you love to buy cuccumber you can contact my, I have a farm and I know alot of farmers that can supply it also

location?

Excuse my ignorance,cucumber is tasteless... how exactly do you market something that is naturally tasteless

Goodluck

I expected this thread to be very informative, and so far, I haven't been disappointed; kudos to @Muzok and @Annamaria.

As a cucumber farmer, I've been looking into things like this, as a way to minimise waste and losses. We've considered cucumber juice, cucumber gel and cucumber in luxury soap making. The major challenge with the juice and gel is preservation, as they cannot be stored for more than a few days, even under refrigerated conditions, and we're loath to use chemical preservatives.

Suggestions on how to overcome this challenge are welcome.

Cheers!!!

I am addicted to home-made juice. l love juicing a mix of cabbage, cucumber, carrot and avocado....it really cleanse the system and makes the skin glow.

Ademat7:
location?

Osun state ede to be precise

Hmmm, I'm liking the idea of the cucumber juice and the cleansing juice @GrammarNazi and Pavore, though I like eating my cucumber and avocado raw.

One thing I know about Nigerians is that many people are addicted to soft drinks. Weaning them off sweet things is a challenge. I'm forced to keep the juice sweet for my customers using pineapples as natural sweetener. I also use a lot of oranges. For commercial purposes, this is what people want. I've tried to educate people about the benefits of juices, beyond it being a replacement for soft drinks which is most people's perception.

As time goes on, I will commence specific health based greens, especially as my clientele grows. My brother-in-law makes all kinds of healthy juices, including herbs and spices, forcing us to drink liquids that include stuff like bitter gourd & turmeric for the health benefits. This is really the way to go, juicing for health and not just for our taste buds.

Wao!! Cucumber juice
I trust our young ones,, they won't go near it since it won't be sweet like Hot.. But with sweet additives,. I honk it would sell well

@ op please talk about preservatives...

MrKong:
Excuse my ignorance,cucumber is tasteless... how exactly do you market something that is naturally tasteless

For sure Cucumber is tasteless, and only the grown ups would want to take it. This is the reason why as stated in my post, natural sweeteners are used to give it an appealing taste.

GrammarNazi:
I expected this thread to be very informative, and so far, I haven't been disappointed; kudos to @Muzok and @Annamaria.

As a cucumber farmer, I've been looking into things like this, as a way to minimise waste and losses. We've considered cucumber juice, cucumber gel and cucumber in luxury soap making. The major challenge with the juice and gel is preservation, as they cannot be stored for more than a few days, even under refrigerated conditions, and we're loath to use chemical preservatives.

Suggestions on how to overcome this challenge are welcome.

Cheers!!!

Please don't be disappointed yet. I am bring it all out in phases. and by the way the preservative is quite a unique natural one. it has been properly researched by my colleagues at Songhai rivers state. so please be patient.

Muzok:


For sure Cucumber is tasteless, and only the grown ups would want to take it. This is the reason why as stated in my post, natural sweeteners are used to give it an appealing taste.

Stevia is a natural sweetener and sugar substitute extracted from the leaves, just don't know if it is commonly grown in Nigeria as l see it here in Kenya.

Since everyone is asking, I am forced to talk on the preservative process of this exciting juice.

The simple truth is that cucumber juice needs no chemical preservatives. From our research so far, our production process gives us a shelf life of 12 months (1 whole year) before the juice begins to loose its form. These processes are a bit advanced and keeps your juice at it peak through the period.

Proper preservation of cucumber juice or juice in general is a 3 fold combo. I call it the "APP". It is simply a combination of ACIDITY control, good PASTEURIZATION and proper PACKAGING. if you can get these three processes correctly, your juice will last without refrigeration for a whooping 12 months.

We suppose tuk about money today o! Nevertheless I think this information will do for now. I would still about the details of the all desired preservation process in a few days.

Have a blissful day ahead. Ciao!

for sweetner,im thinking of dabino fruit as its also full of vit and minerals.

waka2:
for sweetner,im thinking of dabino fruit as its also full of vit and minerals.

Very good idea
It can also serve as thickener for the watery solution of the cucumber juice

Pls what's "Dabino" fruit called locally? Is there any other name for it?

waka2:
for sweetner,im thinking of dabino fruit as its also full of vit and minerals.

I wld love to hv this seed for planting. Is it available here in Nigeria? What d local name for it?

I alSo learnt that "Ewe-Eran". Used in wrapping moi-moi or pap is d SW Nigeria is alSo very good natural sweetner. But the challenge with it is the long gestation period

http://www.wdsxploit.com/index.php/2016/06/14/how-to-boost-your-income-by-cultivating-thaumatococcus-danielli-ewe-moi-moi-or-ewe-eran/

Pavore9:


Stevia is a natural sweetener and sugar substitute extracted from the leaves, just don't know if it is commonly grown in Nigeria as l see it here in Kenya.

Newway2:
I wld love to hv this seed for planting. Is it available here in Nigeria? What d local name for it?

I alSo learnt that "Ewe-Eran". Used in wrapping moi-moi or pap is d SW Nigeria is alSo very good natural sweetner. But the challenge with it is the long gestation period

http://www.wdsxploit.com/index.php/2016/06/14/how-to-boost-your-income-by-cultivating-thaumatococcus-danielli-ewe-moi-moi-or-ewe-eran/

For the long gestation period, that is where grafting comes in, If it can be successfully grafted then one should get the first harvest within 18 months.

Newway2:
Pls what's "Dabino" fruit called locally? Is there any other name for it?

Dabino is called date in English, I don't think you can grow it in the west or south.

Pls what's "Dabino" fruit called locally? Is there any other name for it?
dabino is the common name,the english name is date',commonly sell by hausas.you can google it.

It can't be grafted because of its typr of stem........ryzome stem like ginger or tumeric.

Pavore9:


For the long gestation period, that is where grafting comes in, If it can be successfully grafted then one should get the first harvest within 18 months.

Wow! I am getting really inspired by all your contributions in this thread. I have gotten more and more topics to research and write on.

On the other hand I am really sorry that I have been offline for some days. I am planning a seminar in Port Harcourt that will deal explicitly on all that has to do with the production of cucumber juice. This seminar will outline the following among others

1. The proper manufacturing process
2. Preservation process
3. The various types of sweeteners that can be used
4. Machinery and where to get them
5. How to acquire loans to fund your juice factory etc.

You will not regret if you are a part of it. because experts in the various fields will be facilitating the seminar.
Nevertheless when the date has been fixed I will inform you all.

Have a wonderful week.