Aging and why it is critical for fresh juices

Taste is an elusive and a subjective thing. Think about it. We are getting flavor from wet AIR. We are not chewing something that is filling your mouth with a tangible food that gives your senses the texture, the wetness the flavor as you bite down on something. The flavor in the juices are trying to trick your mind into remembering those feelings of that certain food it is trying to mimic. When the taste buds go wonky, they can no longer make the mind remember what it is supposed to remember about that flavor since the taste buds can no longer send the flavor signal to the brain. It is just WET AIR at that point.

There have been many discussions about what to do when that happens all over this forum. There is NO stock answer that works for everyone. Plenty of suggestions where some worked for some people but not for others. For some it is time that heals. For others it is more water. Yet for others it is lime juice or something that zings the taste buds back into shape. And for some other people it is simply smelling something strong that whips those pesky buds into shape.

Yes changing up different juices throughout the day minimizes the chances of the old taste buds from going south, but it is not 100%.

I don't know if you know about steeping aging. Steeping Aging is where when you get your fresh juices in the mail you need to get the alcohol that was used in the making out of that juice. It also lets the flavors meld together to create what the vendor is trying to make the juice taste like.

To steep age properly:
Take cap and nipple off the bottle
Shake well (till tiny bubbles are noticeable)
Leave caps off for 48 hours shaking repeatedly throught the day. ( this allows all of the alcohol to come to the surface to evaporate out)
. What that does is to concentrate the flavors more because the extra liquid is now leaving.
After the 48 hour cap off, put the nipple and cap back on. Put it away out of direct sunlight. Shake whenever you think about it for 1 - 2 weeks. This gives the juice time to mature into the flavor it is meant to be.

You can try it after a week. If you still get that plasticky, chemical taste. Put it away for another week. Some juices need more time. The more complex the juice, the longer it needs to steep age to get all the flavorings to meld. I have found some juices that need three weeks to get to that magical stage. If after at least three weeks steeping and I still don't like it, I'm never going to like it and write it off as a do not reorder juice. BUT, I may keep it because my taste buds may change a few months down the road. Them damn buds again!

I hope this helps a little on the flavor issues you may be having with some of your juices. I hope that I was able to answer some of the "why does" questions you probably going to have.

Good luck. :)

Comments

Great post! I hang on to my juices too and some of them are faves now. Them damn buds! hahahahah
 
I'm doing basically the same thing just one session with the caps off for 48 hours. Then after about 2-3 weeks I'll check and see if they need more time with or without. I like the way you explained it. Very well written.
 
Funny thing today I was going through what I call my throw out juices as they never had the right taste. Well one of them was a latte which each time I tried it tasted like chalk. Today I gave it one last try before going down the drain. Surprise it tasted like the latte I expected. This one needed 5 weeks to reach it's flavor.
 
I have two orders arriving within a few days one from Ahlusion and the other from The Vapors Room. I plan on following your steeping instructions to a tee. Thanks for posting.
 

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