Buy noni juice: 41 % pure noni fruit purée

A member of the madder family from the tropics

Noni is the fruit of the Morinda citrifolia tree from the madder family (Rubiaceae). The plant originally comes from the Indian region, has spread via South-East Asia as far as Eastern Polynesia and has different names depending on the region – noni, nonu or Indian mulberry.

Part of Polynesian culture for centuries

In Polynesia and South-East Asia, the noni plant has been used for centuries – all of it: fruit, leaves, bark, root, flowers and seeds all had their place in the islanders’ everyday life. Because of its intense taste, the fruit itself was never regarded as a fruit to enjoy; in the past, the juice was mainly drunk when other food was scarce. It is precisely this unusual character that still makes the fruit unmistakable today.

Wild-grown and hand-harvested on Tahiti

The fruits for NUI NONI Original grow in French Polynesia – on Tahiti and the surrounding islands. They come from wild-growing plants and are harvested by hand, with respect for the natural cycle of the stocks.

Authorised in the EU as a novel food

Is noni actually authorised in the EU? Yes – noni fruit juice was one of the EU’s first novel foods: the EU’s Scientific Committee on Food assessed it in 2002, and market authorisation followed in 2003. Today, noni fruit juice, like noni fruit purée, is listed in its own right in the EU Union list of novel foods (Implementing Regulation (EU) 2017/2470). The authorisation is not a formality: it lays down a fixed specification and the production process for the purée – every lot has to measure up to it.

Spontaneous lactic acid fermentation

After harvesting, the whole noni fruits ferment on their own and naturally – a lactic acid fermentation like the one you know from sauerkraut. The result is a pure noni fruit purée made from the whole fruit. The fermentation is not spoilage but stabilisation: the aroma matures and becomes stable after about 60 days, and the pH value drops into the acidic range – measured at 3,38 in the finished drink. This acidic environment stabilises the product naturally, without any preservatives.

Why nothing is pressed here

The term pressed juice does not apply to this product – the fruit is not pressed, and no pomace is separated off. The whole fruit is processed into a purée. That is the key difference from processes that only use the juice that runs off or is pressed out and discard the rest of the fruit. What is in the fruit stays in the product with the purée – gentle processing of the whole noni fruit into a purée.

Pasteurised and bottled in dark glass

Before bottling, the drink is pasteurised – this is part of the authorised process and is also stated on the label. It is bottled in Austria, in a bottle made of dark glass: black glass protects the contents from UV light and thus preserves the quality of the product until it is opened.

Why the drink does without preservatives

NUI NONI Original contains no preservatives – and doesn’t need any. Fermentation lowers the pH value into the clearly acidic range; 3,38 was measured in the finished drink. In this environment the product is stable by itself, just like sauerkraut or a good vinegar. That is why an unopened bottle keeps for around two years – the best-before date on the label is what counts.

What NFC – not from concentrate – means

NFC stands for “not from concentrate”, also known as direct juice. A not-from-concentrate juice is pressed after harvesting, gently preserved and bottled – the detour via a concentrate is dropped completely. The three fruit juices in NUI NONI Original – red grape juice, pomegranate juice and blueberry juice – are not-from-concentrate juices of this kind, in organic quality.

Fruit juice concentrate and the question of Brix

What does “from concentrate” mean? To make a concentrate, water is removed from the juice under vacuum until 6–8 degrees Brix become around 49–51 degrees Brix – the Brix value measures the proportion of dissolved solids. The concentrate is cheap to store and transport. Before it is sold, it is brought back to drinking strength with water. A drink made in this way therefore consists largely of added water – that is permitted and simply has to be declared accordingly. When comparing two noni products, it is therefore always worth looking at the list of ingredients: if it says “purée”, the noni content comes from the fruit itself; if it says “from concentrate”, the biggest processing step was removing water and adding it back later.

Nectar and fruit juice drink

Is NUI NONI Original a juice? Not in the legal sense: a fruit juice within the meaning of the Fruit Juice Directive consists exclusively of juice. A nectar is a separate category in which the addition of water is permitted. NUI NONI Original is a multi-fruit juice drink made from 41 % noni fruit purée and three not-from-concentrate juices – without added water. Anyone searching online for noni juice usually means exactly this kind of product; the label nevertheless shows the legally correct name.

Four fruit components, 100 % in total

The list of ingredients of NUI NONI Original is short – four fruits, nothing else:

The drink is pasteurised. No added water, no concentrate, no flavourings.

Why the ingredient is called “noni fruit purée”

The name in the list of ingredients is not marketing but a requirement: the novel food authorisation stipulates that the ingredient must be called “Morinda citrifolia fruit puree” or “noni fruit puree”. Anyone reading a list of ingredients can tell at a glance whether a product actually contains purée – or just a reconstituted concentrate.

Why not-from-concentrate juices

Not-from-concentrate juices take the short route: pressing, gentle preservation, bottling. The detour via evaporation and reconstitution is dropped. For the recipe, this means: every millilitre besides the noni purée is juice that was harvested and bottled as juice – not water that was added back to a concentrate. All three juices come from organic production.

Vegan and without additives

NUI NONI Original is vegan (V-Label) and contains no preservatives – the stability comes from the fermented purée itself. What is not on the list of ingredients is not in the bottle either: no added water, no concentrate, no flavourings, no added sugars – contains naturally occurring sugars from the four fruits.

Recommended intake

The recommended amount is 2 × 60 ml a day – for example morning and evening. Drunk neat, the character of the fruit comes through most clearly; if you prefer it milder, add your serving to a glass of water or a smoothie, and the drink can also be used in recipes – for example in a dressing. At this amount, the 750 ml bottle lasts a good six days.

Storage

• Store unopened in a cool, dark place – the best-before date on the label is what counts.
• Keep the opened bottle in a cool, dark place and use it up quickly.
• The black glass bottle protects the contents from UV light – still avoid direct sunlight.

Origin, producer and price

NUI NONI Original is made by the NUI cooperative based in Dornbirn (Vorarlberg, Austria). The noni fruit purée comes from French Polynesia; the drink is made and bottled in Austria. The 750 ml bottle costs CHF 44.80 (1 l = CHF 59.73); it gets cheaper per litre with the pack sizes further up this page.