Orange season is here, and I adore this luscious fruit, once a winter luxury in colder climes, and now an ubiquitous part of our daily lives. I had the pleasure last week of touring the Tru-Juice orange groves in Bog Walk, St Catherine, as part of a media delegation invited by the beautiful Marketing Manager Kim Lee who welcomed us on the tour bus, alongside Deveen Hunter Baker, human resources manager. I was bowled over by the gorgeous land, miles and miles of orange trees as far as the eyes could see with the picturesque Rio Cobre running through the property. In fact, the estate boasts 2,900 acres divided amongst four farms and we toured the largest, which makes up 1,100 acres. It made me overjoyed to feel a sense of Southern Europe on our little island. I felt like I was in the beautiful Algarve region of Portugal.

What made me even more proud as an advocate of supporting local farmers was to learn that every aspect of production which goes towards those familiar half-gallon or gallon bottles with their bright orange-coloured tops are 100 per cent Jamaican. This is no exaggeration, I seriously mean 100 per cent: from the fruit grown on the land, and every drop of juice, the bottles, and the labels, everything is made on our beloved rock. Tru-Juice is an Agri vertical company, according to Managing Director Peter McConnell who was our host, accompanied by members of his wonderful management team. This means that all stages of production are conducted at the factory and farm.

During our tour, we examined every step of the production process over a few hours and witnessed all the action for ourselves. The first stage was the nursery where the seedlings are lovingly tended to become beautiful orange trees in the future. Eighty to 100 thousand plants are produced a year, and there are at any given time, eight to 10 varieties of root stock. A tree takes about 12 to 15 months to grow, and a good life span is 20 years (disease can shorten the life span). Basically, in order to guarantee variety and consistent good quality, the budding method is implemented. What this means is that once the seeds have begun to pop out of their trays, they are transplanted to stock plants where the buds are spliced, and wrapped in tape until fused. The tape is then removed and the bent plant forces energy to the bud eyes, which push up to become the beginning of a tree. We met Campbell the nursery manager, and Lawrence Bowie, the agriculture manager, who demonstrated this method to us with a smooth stock Seville and a Frost Valencia.

In the 1990s there was the tristeza disease scare, so the seeds were imported from virus-free sources such as Spain and California. Trees are fed with fertiliser five times a year, weeding is done frequently and sick trees are constantly cut down to keep the integrity of the groves intact. Each plant is checked individually and its parentage can be traced. The Jamaica Citrus Protection Agency makes sure that these rigorous checks are maintained and they have records of all plant heritages. To know that these checks are maintained is reassuring. Full production takes eight years; roughly five per cent are discarded annually. Citrus does not like “wet feet” so the trees are planted on raised ground in flatlands.

Currently it is reaping season and between 700 to 800 workers are employed to pick the oranges. Due to the drought, there are extra workers who do hand-watering to keep the plants healthy. Tru-Juice sends out a yearly ad for local orange farmers to send in samples of their fruit for purchase. These farmers can own farms anywhere between one and 300 acres in size. Payment is based on quality, yield and weight, and the riper oranges fetch a better price. Between 10 and 40 per cent of production oranges are bought from local farmers each season.

Next stop was the factory where there are four operations under one roof: fresh fruit selection and washing, concentrate plant, juice blending and bottling and distribution. Here, we were introduced to Rafeek Motin, production manager, and Althea Ennis, quality systems manager, who led us to where the fruit was being washed and divided between those for export and local production; we saw the automatic bag filler which fills 65lb bags as well as bins filled to the brim with 500lbs of oranges. Tony Bssat, sales and distribution manager, pointed out to me those that were going abroad and those staying here, and what pleased me was that the oranges were of equal quality. We looked at the compressor which separates the pulp from the juice. Local farmers purchase the pulp to feed cattle.

Afterwards we went to see the juice evaporator. This step was extremely interesting for me as a food writer as concentrate often gets a bad name due to ignorance. Remember, all fruits have seasons, and as a result, when we can’t get fresh juice, we consume concentrate made from fresh juice which is frozen until ready to use, so keep in the back of your mind that local concentrated juice is not artificial, does not come from abroad but rather from Jamaican fruit picked at their peak freshness. Readers, I can assure you that Tru-Juice concentrate is 100 per cent natural. Fresh orange juice is condensed by evaporating water out of it. There are no chemicals in this process. I was so relieved, and McConnell allowed me to taste it. It was divine, syrupy yet full of tart flavour, really excellent stuff!

Lynden Gilzene is master blender/quality control analyst, and he took us around his lab. He shared with us the pasteurisation process, which is done by flash method where the juice is heated to 190ºF and plunged to 35ºF in 16 seconds. 35ºF is the holding temperature to keep your juice until consumption. For each batch of juice produced, samples are retained until the expiry date. Batch numbers inform the consumer of the year and date the product was made and indicate freshness, which is guaranteed for 45 days. Orange juice with pulp has a shorter shelf life of 35 days. Currently, they are developing a lime juice and we got to sample the delicious Calico Jack, a rum punch which will be rolled out onto the market soon.

On Monday, when I picked up my gallon of Tru-Juice orange juice at MegaMart while I was shopping for this column, I felt really good. When we purchase this product, feel pride that it is run by a proud Jamaican family, the McConnells, who support farmers from their community and the island at large. When I witnessed McConnell, the farmers and factory workers interact, the love and respect amongst them was felt by all and I thought about Dave, one of the guys reaping in the orange grove and the implications it would mean to him and his family if this business should cease to be. It is so vital to support local businesses and keep the jobs in Jamaica. Support local farmers and keep Jamaica eating healthy.

A huge thank you to Peter McConnell, Kim Lee and the rest of the Tru-Juice team for inviting me to participate in the Media Orange Season Tour; it was an educational and fun experience. I now drink my orange juice with renewed pride!

Thanks also to MegaMart for your continued support of this column.

Contact me at info@juicychef.com

Bon Appétit!