Nothing is more refreshing in summer than a glass of sugarcane juice. Some like it with a squeeze of lemon, some may fancy it with a zing of ginger. Sadly, sugarcane juice has a low shelf life and therefore unsuitable to carry on the go.

And that is how the story of Oh My Ganna (OMG) began. It happened when Dipin Kapur and his friends were on a road trip and stopped by a roadside stall to enjoy their fill of sugarcane juice. They felt a little bad that they could not take some of the delicious drink back home. It set them thinking about if it was possible to increase the shelf life of this healthy, nutritious drink and pack it, says Kapur, one of the three partners at Nutricane Beverages.

Kapur, Sachin Goel and Neeraj Jalan developed a technology (patent pending) — completely in India — called FreshFusion and launched OMG!, a brand of bottled sugarcane juice with different flavours (cumin, lemon and ginger). These have a non-refrigerated shelf life and retain their taste and goodness without any added chemical preservatives. This takes care of hygiene and availability around the year.

The partners realised that sugarcane juice was missing from the mainstream soft drinks mainly because of its low shelf life, and they decided to research some more and come up with a solution.

They travelled extensively to find out how natural juices elsewhere were successfully packed and marketed. Most of them were pasteurised, they learnt, before being packaged. That was not an option here as heating changes the properties of the fresh ganna juice.

The founders approached food technologists and scientists, and after two years of Research and Development, they took the process further. They were looking for a way to make the sugarcane juice last for at least three months, says Kapur. As the process is patent-pending, he does not want to say anything more.

Kapur is quick to declare that he is a big fan of the roadside sugarcane juice. “The roadside sugarcane juice has been a life saver on so many occasions. But we are offering an alternative that is safe and delicious. OMG is available in three flavours — Cumin Crush, Ginger Groove and Lemon Love. Four varieties of sugarcane are used for the juice and they are sourced from nearby farmers.

The final product is currently available in Delhi, Chennai and Bengaluru, and will soon be available in Hyderabad as well. It is also available online.

Source:-http://www.thehindu.com/life-and-style/food/fresh-and-natural-in-a-bottle/article23922840.ece