Grape juice (with ascorbic acid and Ca) raw? organic?

Grape juice (organic?) is made from the berries of red or white grapes ( Vitis vinifera). Juice enriched with ascorbic acid and calcium contains more vitamins and minerals.

Use in the kitchen

There is red and whitegrape juice, which is either filtered or naturally cloudy. Grape juice is also sold commercially with additional vitamin C (ascorbic acid) and calcium. Wine ( red wine, white wine) is made from fermented and stored grape juice. There are also special dessert wines such as port and sherry.

What is grape juice good for? Grape juice can be drunk pure or mixed with other vegetable and fruit juices. Grape juice can be used as a natural coloring agent in cooking and baking. It is an alcohol-free alternative tored wine in dishes such as apple and red cabbage or gravy. You can also use it to make delicious cream or mousse.

How can you make grape syrup yourself? Grape syrup is easy to make by slowly boiling down grape juice. It tastes delicious over ice cream or in muesli. Mixed with rosehip tea and a few mint leaves, you can quickly make a fruity iced tea.

Making your own grape juice

Raw grape juice is easy to make. You can find instructions for this under the ingredientgrape juice. The grape juice sold in stores with additional vitamin C and calcium is difficult to make yourself.

Vegan recipe for grape juice ice cream

Ingredients (for 4 people): 50 g powdered sugar, 200 g grapes (seedless), 2 dl oat cream, 2 dl grape juice.

Preparation: Wash the grapes and drain well. Grind them in a blender with the icing sugar. Add the oat cream and grape juice and mix well. Put the ice cream mixture in the freezer and stir well every 30 minutes. The ice cream needs about 4 hours to be ready.

Vegan recipes with grape juice can be found under the note: " Recipes that have the most of this ingredient ".

Purchasing - Storage

Grape juice, enriched with ascorbic acid and calcium, can occasionally be found in the range of large retailers such as Coop, Migros, Denner, Volg, Spar, Aldi, Lidl, Billa, Rewe, Edeka or Hofer, sometimes also in organic quality. Grape juice can also often be bought in organic supermarkets such as Denn's Biomarkt or Alnatura. Grape juice is available all year round.

The grape juice available in stores is pasteurized and therefore not raw food quality. Raw food juice must always be freshly squeezed and does not last long, which is why you can usually only buy it in juice bars or have to make it yourself. Juice enriched with ascorbic acid and calcium is mostly not raw food juice.

The availability of grape juice varies depending on the size of the store, catchment area, etc. If you are interested, click on our recorded food prices for the DA-CH countries (above under the ingredient image). There you will find current prices from various supermarkets and their price development.

Storage tips

Opened grape juice should be stored in the refrigerator and consumed within 3-5 days.

Ingredients - Nutritional values - Calories

Enriched grape juice contains 62 kcal per 100 g. The protein content is low at 0.37 g/100g and fat is also almost non-existent at 0.13 g/100g. It contains 15 g/100 g of carbohydrates, of which 14 g is sugar. The fiber content is 0.2 g/100 g. ¹

Compared to other juices, grape juice contains a lot of calories and sugar. Apple juice contains 46 kcal and 9.6 g of sugar per 100 g. Orange juice has 45 kcal and 8.4 g of sugar. Carrot juice has only 40 kcal and 3.9 g of sugar. ¹

Grape juice contains various minerals and vitamins, as well as valuable bioactive substances such as polyphenols and flavonoids.

Does grape juice contain vitamin C? 100 g of fortified grape juice contains 25 mg of vitamin C (ascorbic acid). This corresponds to 31.0% of the daily requirement. Normalgrape juice contains only 0.1 mg/100g. In comparison, orange juice contains 50 mg and lemon juice 39 mg per 100 g. ¹

It also contains 0.24 mg of manganese, which is comparable to raisins (0.30 mg/100g). In contrast, grapes contain little manganese, at 0.07 mg/100g. American muscadine grapes contain a lot of manganese (2.0 mg/100g). ¹

Calcium is contained at 42.0 mg/100g. This corresponds to 5.0% of the daily requirement. Grapes have little calcium on their own (10 mg/100g), which is why normalgrape juice also contains little calcium (11.0 mg/100g). ¹ Raisins contain a similar amount of calcium to fortified grape juice (50 mg/100g). ¹

Does grape juice contain iron? Grape juice contains small amounts of iron. 100 g contain only 0.25 mg, which corresponds to 2.0% of the daily requirement. Grape juice also contains small amounts of potassium, fluorine and magnesium. ¹

The complete ingredients of grape juice, the coverage of the daily requirement and comparison values with other ingredients can be found in our nutrient tables. In the article Nutrients explained you will get a detailed insight into the topic.

Effects on health

Grape juice contains many bioactive substances, including polyphenols such as flavonoids, anthocyanins and stilbenes. ^11,7 These are considered antioxidants and have anti-inflammatory and anti-carcinogenic properties. Resveratrol is one of the stilbenes that is present in grapes, grape juice, red wine and white wine and has anti-cancer effects. ⁵ Since 2016, a synthetic variant of resveratrol has been approved as a dietary supplement. ¹² The content of resveratrol in grape juice varies. Some industrially produced grape juice contains very little resveratrol, as this decreases through filtration and clarification. ¹³

You can find out more about the health effects of resveratrol under the ingredient red table wine.

Ascorbic acid (vitamin C) helps increase the bioavailability of iron, which is why orange and lemon juice promote iron absorption. Studies show that red grape juice, although it also contains ascorbic acid, has less effect than other juices. In an in vitro study, white grape juice was shown to increase the bioavailability of iron. This is probably due to the lower polyphenols in white grape juice. Polyphenols bind iron and thus lead to reduced absorption. From a nutritional point of view, grape juice should therefore not be consumed with iron-containing foods so as not to inhibit their absorption. ^9,10

Dangers - Intolerances - Side effects

Allergic reactions to grapes and grape juice are rare, but can cause severe allergic reactions in sensitive patients. The main allergen in grapes reacts to the main allergen in peach, which is why people with a grape allergy can also react to peach and vice versa. ^4,5

Grape juice contains fructose, so people with fructose intolerance may need to avoid it.

Drinking grape juice can support an otherwise healthy and balanced diet. However, juice should only be consumed occasionally and not in large quantities. 1 liter of grape juice contains 620 kcal and 140 g of sugar. ¹ Vegetable juices are preferable to fruit juices as they contain less sugar. The daily consumption of large quantities of fruit and/or vegetable juice and smoothies should be avoided. The exception is as part of a time-limited juice cure (fasting cure).

Ecological footprint - animal welfare

The ecological CO ₂ footprint of grape juice depends on the country of origin of the grapes processed, the cultivation method and of course the individual processing steps and sales. On average, 0.4 kg CO ₂ eq is generated per kilogram of grapes produced, the amount of emissions produced for grape juice is most likely slightly higher due to the additional work steps and packaging. ¹⁴ The amount of water required to produce 1 kg of grape juice is 675 liters of water, only about half as much as to produce 1 kg of apple juice (1141 liters/kg). ¹⁵ However, this is a particularly big problem in countries that are already struggling with water shortages due to climatic conditions and have to resort to artificial irrigation to irrigate the grapes (for example Italy). ¹⁶

Since grapes from conventional agriculture often contain residues of pesticides or herbicides ¹⁷, it is ideal to buy grape juice from organic production.

Worldwide occurrence - cultivation

Grape juice is made from the berries of the grapevine, using different varieties. The grapevine Vitis vinifera ssp. vinifera originally comes from the Middle East. Today, grapes are grown worldwide. Along with the cultivation of the grapevine, knowledge of how to make grape juice, red wine and white wine is also spreading. ³

For information on growing and harvesting grapes, see the following links: Noble Grape Vine and Muscadine Grapes.

Industrial production

Fruit juices consist of 100% juice. Fruit nectar, on the other hand, can be diluted with water and sweetened with sugar or honey. Most fruit juices consist of fruit juice concentrate diluted with water. Juice that is bottled immediately after pressing or after pasteurization is called direct juice. However, the term is not legally defined. ⁶

Industrial grape juice production is carried out either by mechanical cold pressing or hot pressing. The mash is often also treated with pectolytic enzymes, which break down the cell walls of the grapes so that more polyphenols and colorants (anthocyanins) get into the juice. Microwave and ultrasound treatments are also increasingly used to increase the juice and nutrient yield. ⁷

Cold pressing is carried out using mechanical processes, in which the grape mash is extracted by pressing, grinding and squeezing. To do this, the grape mash is cooled and mixed with sulphur dioxide to inhibit oxidative enzymes and undesirable microorganisms. The pectolytic enzymes are then mixed in. ⁷

In hot pressing, the pectolytic enzymes are added to the crushed grapes heated to 60–62 °C and left to work in the grape mash for 30–60 minutes. Another thermal process uses steam pressing to break down the cell walls and press the juice out of the fruit. This process results in a very high content of polyphenols and anthocyanins in the grape juice. This process eliminates the need for further pasteurization and the fruit juices have a long shelf life. Steam extraction is used industrially on a small and medium scale. ⁸

The must is then clarified (this is not necessary for naturally cloudy juice) and pasteurized. Depending on the processing, fining agents such as bentonite or pectinases are used to improve self-clarification and filtration. Ascorbic acid (vitamin C) is added as an antioxidant to extend the shelf life and increase the vitamin content. Calcium is also sometimes added.

Since the juice is heated or pasteurized during industrial production, the grape juice does not have raw food quality.

Further information

Mostly grapes from the noble vine ( Vitis vinifera subsp. vinifera) are used, less often muscadine grapes ( Vitis rotundifolia Michx., syn. Muscadinia rotundifolia Simpson ex Munson) or Concord grapes ( Vitis labrusca L.).

Alternative names

Grape juice is also called grape sweet must or grape must. The English name is grape juice.