Humanist

If you were going to open up a shop, what would you sell?

A shop that sells freshly made juices from organic fruits and ingredients is long overdue in my neighborhood. Am talking about juice that has more of the fruit in it as opposed to just the flavor of the fruit that has been significantly diluted with water and then sweetened. Worse more, the sugary-drinks that most of the times are made of fruit flavored food color and not the actual fruits.

One would think that in a country such as ours that is gifted with nature, in which fresh fruits and vegetables are available all year round, fresh fruit stalls and shops would be big business. It isn’t the case. It is the ‘colored-water-sugary’ type juices made by corporations in bulk and are loaded with inorganic preservatives that are mostly available on the market.

And, moreover, it would be feasible for me to grow a significant proportion of the ingredients for my fruit juice shop.

Hard cover passion fruits and lemon grass from my front yard urban garden, carrots and an apple bought from the market, were the ingredients of my homemade juice this morning.

I really do love experimenting mixing fruits and condiments in my home juice making with a simple blender. In some cases, like this morning, I don’t really have to do much for the fruit itself has its special, natural, fantastic aroma and flavor.

There is one main passion fruit vine in my front yard garden, that has multiple branches that are supported by an avocado tree. Since it started fruiting, I and my loved ones are enjoying an endless supply of the hard cover aroma filled passion fruits. We do not need to harvest them, they drop when matured and we pick them. Every day it seems they drop!

Hard cover passion fruit on the vine in my front yard urban garden.

Now, am thinking, how is it that these hard cover passion fruits, the ones that grow organic and are seemingly not significantly affected by dry weather, aren’t the ones widely available on the market here, but it is rather the ones that need inorganic fertilizers and pesticides to grow and fruit that are mostly available?

I digress, back to the product. I hope that as I sell the fruit juice, it would go along with conversation with my customers about the health benefits of consuming fresh juice from organic fruit and healthy eating generally. That my customers and I will continue to see and appreciate the reasons why fresh fruit juice costs more than the ‘colored-water-sugary’ type juices. The latter are generally not good for ones health; while organic fruit juices are.

And the opportunity cost is worth it. In this day and age where some women are spending a whole load of money on skin care products, it is likely that an investment in drinking fresh fruit juice daily would reduced one’s need for certain expensive skin care products, containing poisonous chemicals such as mercury.

How is it that many women, in my country find it okay to spend a lot of money on skin care products with mercury? A chemical that NYC Health warns “can damage the brain, nervous system and kidneys … It may also damage the skin, cause rashes and blotchy spots and give skin a grayish color.”

My fruit juice shop would sell knowledge as a bonus that consumption of fruits rich in vitamin C contributes to good skin complexion; and there is no need for women to spend a lot of money on dangerous chemical based skin creams to bleach their skins and to have good skin complexion.

That, overall, organic fruit juices contribute to good health of body and soul. One is healthy and not prone to certain diseases related to insufficient intake of vitamin C; and because one’s skin is healthy and looks good, they feel good about themselves.

Profiled photo @ my homemade juices from freshly harvested fruits.