Local cherry juice manufacturer Fitzroy Fletcher wants to see the West Indian cherry, known globally as Acerola, featuring far more prominently in the food consumption profile of Guyanese given the fact that it remains one of nature’s richest sources of Vitamin C, possessing twenty times that of the orange.
In a recent interview with the Stabroek Business, Fletcher, the proprietor of the Essequibo-based Adventure Manufacturing Company, which manufactures and markets cherry juice locally, says that cherry juice consumption is “very much in keeping” with the guidelines set out by the Ministry of Public Health for promoting good health.
The Acerola cherry, commonly called the West Indian cherry or the Barbados cherry and which is native to the tropical regions of the Western Hemisphere has historically been popular in Guyana, both as a fruit to be consumed directly or as a source from which juice can be extracted and sold. The acerola cherry has also been used in home remedies and as a vitamin c supplement.
In relatively recent years the commercial value of the fruit has been more aggressively exploited by local investors in the agro-processing sector while farmers have responded to the demand by bringing more land under cherry cultivation.
Fletcher told Stabroek Business that his own advocacy for the increased consumption of cherry juice was based largely on the “thousands of scientific studies that show the connection between generous vitamin intake and the body’s ability to fight off disease,” a key reason, he says, why cherry and other fruits “are so crucial to our diets.”
Fletcher explains that his factory, which produces the juice under the ‘Juice Up’ label, utilises the HTST Pasteurization system which destroys pathogenic organisms including bacteria and viruses.
Adventure Manufacturing also manufactures lime juice which Fletcher says can be used both as a base for the production of drinks and as a product for seasoning meat.
Editor’s Note: The proprietor has indicated that juice-manufacturing at Adventure Manufacturing has been suspended in keeping with COVID-19 restrictions. Subject to the lifting of those restrictions manufacture of cherry juice will re-commence.
