The newest, most nutritious natural juice on the market, Callaloo juice. - Photos by Nashauna Drummond

Yahneake Sterling, Staff Reporter

The green leafy vegetable that boasts a great supply of iron, has taken healthy to another level, in the form of a juice.

It is the callaloo or 'illaloo' as many Rastafarians call it. Bottled by Exotic Juices, the juice is the brainchild of Donovan Roberts.

A taxi operator/chef/juice maker, Roberts got the idea from a customer in 2004. At the time, he was already making other natural juices such as beetroot and carrot, and was selling them at a restaurant in which he was a partner.

"The same day the customer said it, I bought two bundles of callaloo, went home, experimented with it and came up with the juice," Mr. Roberts told Food.

He used his family as the tasters for his experiment, which they said tasted like the June plum.

After getting great reviews, he put the juice on the menu. However, he soon realised that callaloo juice was not doing as well as the other juices he had on the market.

"When I tasted it, I realised that it had the potential to do well, but it would be an expensive venture. I was at church when someone recommended that I attend a business people breakfast," Mr. Roberts revealed.

As fate would have it, music producer Lloyd Evans who is also a health nut, was the guest speaker at the breakfast. Mr. Roberts later offered Mr. Evans a taste of his callaloo juice.

"I tasted it and I liked it," Mr. Evans told Food.

But being diabetic, he was concerned about the sugar content of the drink. So the two went back to the drawing board. After much trial and error, visits to the Scientific Research Council and the Bureau of Standards, the two finally perfected the product.

"I am very satisfied with it. The people who look at it and want to partake of it, are those who are more health-conscious people," Evans said.

It's all natural

Donovan Roberts of Exotic Juices has taken healthy eating to another level with Callaloo Juice.

Callaloo juice has no artificial preservatives. It contains only four per cent sugar and five per cent carbohydrate. It contains cane sugar, ginger and lime juice. It has a shelf life of four to six weeks.

Health Benefits

The drink is high in calcium, vitamin C and iron. Callaloo can also be used as a laxative. This is also possible with the Exotic Juices Brand if consumed in the recommended amount, which is two glasses a day (one in the morning and one in the evening).

Ways to have it

Callaloo drink can be had by itself, with orange juice or as a chaser for alcoholic beverages.

Availability

Callaloo juice is available in Shopper's Fair, Sovereign, John R. Wong, Loshusan, Megamart and Hilo supermarkets in Kingston and St. Andrew and St. Catherine.

Anumber of persons tasted the drink for Food recently and here are their comments:

I was pleasantly surprised at the taste of the drink. That dominant callaloo taste was not there as I had anticipated. The lime adds a nice touch.

It has an unusual taste, better than I thought it would be. But I wouldn't go out of my way to have it again.

It is refreshing, and tastes just like cucumber juice and close to June plum too.

At first one might be turned off because of the colour and the thought of callaloo juice. However, after tasting it, I realised that it is quite refreshing and smooth.

The callaloo juice is excellent. It has to be had very cold to be enjoyed to the maximum.

Very refreshing and surprisingly very tasty. Not too sweet and just enough lemon flavour to balance the usually unpleasant callaloo taste.

I was surprised actually, I thought it was really nice. It had a nice, clean taste and you almost wouldn't think that you were drinking juice made from what is a regular vegetable.

It was horrible!

It was awful!

This is refreshing, much better tasting than it looks, but I prefer to cut up my callaloo and steam it, thanks. I feel the same way about cucumber and June plum, better had raw!

At first it tasted like June plum juice. However, a second sip brought home the callaloo taste, which by the way was not overwhelming.

I did not like it, don't like vegetable juices in general.

Could be a good product, but I would suggest that a little more ginger be added to provide a blend with the strong taste of the callaloo.

This is the second time I am having callaloo juice. I was not impressed the first time and I'm not drawn to it now either. It is going to take more than a regular dosage for me to acquire the taste of callaloo juice. I prefer it the old way - steamed

It takes like brew.

It's the worst juice I have ever had.

I was turned off by the green colour, but once I tasted it, it was surprisingly refreshing and tasty. But then, you have to be the sort of person who likes vegetable juices to appreciate the exotic taste.