Take a look at what it takes to make the healthiest and tastiest juice around.
From harvesting the best fruit to filling those great juice cartons and cans, let us show you what it takes to be the best juice under the sun.
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FRESH FRUIT TOUR
HARVESTING
This is a block of the organic grove where Uncle Matt's gets its great tasting fruit.
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Fruit is harvested by hand with the help of ladders and picking sacs. |
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The fruit is then dumped from sacs into field bins for easy loading onto harvesting trucks. |
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The goat truck, a specially designed vehicle used for harvesting fruit, delivers the fruit to trailers parked on main roads within the grove and is delivered to the packing house. |
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Once at the packing house, the fruit is then dumped onto the packing line. |
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The fruit is simultaneously washed and cleaned while running over brushes as it is rinsed. |
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The fruit is graded by hand for defects, such as blemishes, decay or scarring. |
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The fruit is waxed and dried. The wax is a natural, organic carnuba base use for preservation of the fruit. |
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One last final grade ensures only the finest quality fruit reaches your taste buds. |
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The fruit runs across an automatic sizing machine which sorts the fruit into separate packing bins. |
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The fruit is hand-packed into our great cartons for shipping. |
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Once packed, the cartons are stacked on palettes and placed into cold storage prior to shipping to your favorite local grocer. |
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THE JUICE TOUR
The fruit is harvested in tubs that are picked up by a goat truck within the grove.
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The bed of the goat truck is hydraulic and lifts the fruit up in order to pour into the trailers. Once full, the trailers are then hauled to the juice processing plant. |
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JUICE PROCESSING
At the juice plant, the first step is to unload the trailer. The trailer unloads the fruit onto belts that transport the fruit to be washed.
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The oranges are put through their first in a series of washes before moving on. |
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The fruit is then graded for defects and poor quality. Any fruit that is not of high quality—typically too soft, split open, or decayed—is discarded. |
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After the final wash and grade, the fruit is sent to the juice extractors. This machine is the FMC extractor and works like a press. It simultaneously separates the juice from the peel as it is squeezed.
From here the juice is sent through finishers which separate seeds and pulp from the juice. Next, it is sent to be flash pasteurized to kill harmful microbes and deactivate enzymes that cause juice separation.
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After pasteurization, the juice is then filled into large stainless steel tanks before going to its final stage. |
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PACKAGING:
From here the juice is sent to packaging machines where it is filled into Uncle Matt's great cartons. This machine simultaneously fills and seals each bottle. The next step in the packaging process attaches the screw cap.
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Next the cartons are placed into cardboard cases for easy shipping. They are packed six per case. |
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The cases are then stacked on pallets for delivery to your local grocery store or food distributor.
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