Cold-pressed juice and a Naples woman's push for a health food movement

At 2 o'clock each day, Juicelation starts to smell really, really good.

That's when crews in the kitchen turn organic, locally grown produce into cold-pressed juice, and the tiny storefront in Liberty Plaza smells sweet with earthy goodness. And it's Alexandra DiCicco's favorite time of day.

"It's energy from the sun," she said. "It's meant to fuel us."

In the kitchen on a recent Friday, Ryan Perez tossed apples, celery stalks and leafy kale bunches into the chute of a giant, steel machine that looked a little like a wood chipper. His red and white T-shirt read "Detox & Chill" (a clever take on the popular "Netflix & Chill").

"We're making the Popeye," he said, which also includes parsley, cayenne, whole lemons and, of course, spinach.

"It's the most popular one," Perez added.

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There was a whirring sound next, and the machine shredded the fruits and veggies into tiny slivers and dropped them into a mesh bag. Then the machine gave the bag a tight squeeze (9 pounds of pressure, to be exact), and green juice the color of grass oozed out, emitting its damp, refreshing scent.

Finally, the small batch of juice was divided into individual, 16-ounce glass bottles — "the best way we feel that you can drink a juice," DiCiccio said — and branded with a Juicelation sticker. Those bottles will sit on shelves for only one day. It's a business model that few juicing companies have been brave enough to tackle, she said.

But at Juicelation, DiCiccio, 27, is on a mission to change the way people think about food and how they nourish their bodies, one kale- and tumeric-packed juice at a time.

"People are just starting to understand the value of juice," she said.

How it started

DiCicco, a native of St. Petesburg, started juicing in 2009 when she decided to adopt a vegan diet, that is, not consuming meat or animal products like cheese or dairy. She was traveling a lot at the time, and saw juice bars popping up all over the country and gaining a devoted following. 

But juicing at home is a lot of work.

Steven Chavez, who co-owns Juicelation alongside DiCicco, said he used to spend three hours juicing at home each day. 

"It's expensive to go to the grocery store and then you get home and your celery stalks don't even fill up half of a mason jar," he said. "Not only that but you have to clean the machine afterward, and food gets into every nick and cranny."

DiCicco was already doing it for herself, "so why not turn it into a service?" she wondered at the time.

So in 2014 she rented a commissary kitchen and spent a year preparing cold-pressed juice for local farmers markets and home deliveries. From there, DiCicco said she saw the demand in Naples, which is considered one of the happiest, healthiest towns in the U.S.

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In 2015, Juicelation moved into a brick-and-mortar space off U.S. 41 North near Pine Ridge Road, where the kitchen prepares the juices fresh each day using organic produce that's in season and from local farms and markets, including Inyoni Organic Farms, Oakes Farm, and Food and Thought.

How it works

There are two methods of juicing, DiCicco said.

The first is centrifugal, which is the kind that you'll find in department stores and advertised on TV (and for much cheaper). These use a high-speed spinning action to grind food to a pulp, extracting its juices in the process. 

The second is called masticating, or "cold-pressed," which literally crushes or presses the juice out the produce. This is a much quieter, gentler method that maintains the nutrients, vitamins and enzymes of the fruit or vegetable you're juicing, DiCicco said.

"If you’re putting (produce) into a juicer that’s really loud and fast-spinning like centrifugal, the friction is what burns up the enzymes and they just die instantly," she said. "So you’re losing basically 30 percent of the nutritional value when you use that machine."

The wood chipper-looking machine in Juicelation's kitchen cost somewhere around $50,000, DiCicco said. And Juicelation uses it to prepare juices made with only organic produce without pesticides or preservatives, giving it a shelf-life of about one day, unlike the cold-pressed juices customers can find at Publix, Costco or even gas stations.

"Not a lot of people want to commit to the fresh, daily model," she said. "It’s a lot of work."

Juicelation offers an ever-changing menu of about nine juices, depending on the time of year and what's in season. It's easy to be inspired by Florida's year-round growing season, DiCicco said. Right now, she's inspired by the summer's bounty of pineapple, mango, lychee and soursop leaves, which are known to be a natural cure to many ailments and have anti-cancer properties.

Other juices on the menu include the "Beetox," which is packed with beets, carrots, apples, lemon and ginger, and the "Dandy Lion," with dandelion greens, cucumber, cilantro, celery, apple, lemon and ginger.

DiCicco is ready to expand. Her dream, she said, is to own a full vegan kitchen. Juicelation is already experimenting with vegan tacos and pastas, which pop up on the menu from time to time.

For now, though, she's eager to spread the health benefits of cold-pressed juice, which include a boost in energy, immunity and health. Juices also detox the body from harmful chemicals, leading many people to complete a days- or weeks-long juice cleanse.

It also gives the body a chance to take a break from digesting solid food and the detoxification process, Chavez said.

"It’s like a daily vitamin," DiCicco said. "It’s alive, it’s not siting on the shelf, it’s not synthesized. It’s from the earth."

Juicelation

• Where: 4947 U.S. 41 N., Suite 104, Naples (also available on Uber Eats)
• Hours: 8 a.m. to 8 p.m. Monday through Friday; 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. Saturday; closed Sunday 
• Contact: 239-529-2290
• More information:juicelation.com