Pomace involves any solid residue that accumulates when making fruit or vegetable juices, for example. This includes the skin, pips and the pulp. The residual material is currently composted, burnt or used to generate biogas. That is a great shame, according to the scientists involved in the LOEWE AROMAplus cluster. They have therefore developed a process for using this by-product to make a delicious soft drink.

“The use of pomace in the past has born no relation to the abundance of nutrients that it still contains,” says Svenja Sommer, who is conducting research into the fermentation of fungi as part of the LOEWE AROMAplus cluster. In addition to sugar and blackberry pomace, all that is required for this new kind of production of soft drinks is an edible fungus, which is already found in large quantities in China. This provides a special aroma. The juice has only been produced in the university’s own juice-making centre at Geisenheim University so far. However, some members of the fruit juice industry have now started to express an interest in this new kind of product.