Turn bananas into juice

Jul 28, 2020

A bunch of 60kg costs about sh6,000

Turn bananas into juice

Admin .
@New Vision

For the last four months, the price of bananas has been low, due to a bumper harvest. This means that many farmers have made losses.

At the moment, the average price of a 60kg bunch of bananas is sh6,000 in markets around Mbarara, Fort Portal, Masaka, Isingiro town and much lower in the villages and farms.

However, the same bunch can produce juice of sh100,000. A good quality bunch of bananas can produce at least 20 litres of juice.

How to make banana juice

The best juice is made from the best bananas. They should not have any scratches and must be mature before they are harvested. Keep them in a warm place to ripen. After ripening, they are pressed/squeezed using a fruit press, or by hand, if a person does not have the press.

The juice is diluted according to the required taste.

What you need

• A bunch of 60kg of matooke costs sh8,000 to sh12,000 in urban areas at the moment.

• Banana juice press costs from sh400,000 for a small one or you can do it manually by putting the ripe bananas in a saucepan and squeezing the juice out using gauze or even strong grasses like lusenke.

• A pasteurising system at a cost of sh1-2m for small enterprises.

• Clean water and jerrycans.

• Packaging materials at sh500 for each half litre.

For a long time, banana juice was mainly got from kisubi, kayinja and musa varieties. Ideally, these should still produce the best juice.

However, they are getting scarce. This is why most processors now use the common bananas.

Juice presses of any sizes are sold in domestic utensils stores around town.

If you are pressing by hand, you use clean straw or half-dried banana leaves to help you squeeze juice out of the bananas.

For a good taste, one litre of banana juice is diluted with four litres of water. The juice is then boiled and then mixed with a beverage preservative. Beverage preservatives are elements that stop bacterial reactions that cause rotting in foods.

Preservatives are sold in most supermarkets.

Packaging materials are sold in plastics dealers stores around Kampala, at as low as sh300 for a half-litre bottle.

A 60kg bunch of bananas can produce at least 20 litres of diluted juice. A packed litre of banana juice costs sh6,000- sh7,000 in most supermarkets.

Compiled by Joshua Kato (the editor Harvest Money) and Deo Mugisa (Best Farmer 2018, juice and wine producer)

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