Good-Natured Nutrition
Good-Natured Nutrition
We recently received a question from one of our customers and thought we would share our answer here:
Post Question: Fresh pressed sounds like wasn’t cooked? Am I misunderstanding? Because elderberries must be cooked before being consumed to prevent risk of cyanide poisoning.
Answer: Great question!
The elderberry is fresh-pressed before it is lightly pasteurized to be a shelf-stable juice. You are correct that the EUROPEAN Elderberry (Sambucas Nigra) has cyanide in the seeds which the heat of pasteurization and bottling destroys. LIONBERRY by MAMA PAJAMA only uses The American Elderberry (Sambucas canadensis) which does not have the high cyanide in the seeds like the European. The University of Missouri has some excellent research and articles explaining this.
HOWEVER, we use fresh-pressed fruit (which means it is pressed immediately after picking) then we do a light pasteurization for shelf stability. We avoid cooking it down, reducing it to syrup, boiling the fruit because a high and long heat degrades the delicate antioxidants. We are currently being 3rd party tested for healthy plant properties. Watch for this data on our website www.lionberry.us.
Thank you so much for the question!
We can support our competitors! Its ok to cheer each other on!!!
I’m hard wired for this, but I should take more time to explain why…
Because if your niche is tiny, you don’t need to “win the market,” you need to grow the market.
A niche doesn’t get big because one company dominates it.
A niche gets big because multiple companies prove the category exists, educate consumers, normalize the product, and make the market safer, easier, and more familiar to enter.
Cheering your competitors on is not charity.
It’s category creation.
When your competitor gets press, or distribution, or a rave review — they’re not “stealing your customers.” They’re doing free education, building demand, and making it easier for the next person in that buyer’s journey to understand exactly what your product is.
You don’t need a bigger slice of the pie.
You need a bigger pie.
Or a Rising Tide that raises all boats!!! (Yey! I caught a fish!)