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Growing
FFP farms yield thousands of tons of leaves from hundreds of acres of aloe in its natural habitat of Guatemala. Aloe growing and processing is the largest private employment opportunity in the central region of Guatemala. The rich volcanic soil and ideal weather patterns in a subtropical zone enables us to grow aloe without the use of fertilizers. Assays of the gel indicate our mineral content is much higher than other regions of the world, confirming the advantage of the rich organic soil. The leaves that grow to or which grow to over 1 kg, are harvested, then immediately processed after harvest.
Processing
The fields are close to our factory, allowing for immediate processing after harvesting. Removing the gel by hand, extracting, filtering, concentrating, then freezing the base in a short period of time, is the most effective method of preserving the natural properties of the gel. In the natural state, the delicate inner fillets of the aloe leaf are approximately 0.5% soluble solids.
There are also insoluble pulp fibers in the natural gel which are generally removed. The water is removed at cold temperatures in our evaporation systems until reaching 5% (10x concentrate), 20% (40x concentrate), and eventually 100% pure (200x powder) solids
The inner gel of the aloe has low levels of naturally occurring water soluble color bodies. The WG grade offered contains small amounts of these color bodies and has a light yellow/tan appearance after extension. The UP grade has been decolorized to remove the majority of the color bodies with the result being a water clear material after extension. Aloe that is processed using the whole leaf (WLG) is always decolorized because of the yellow sap located in the rind.
Delivery and Customer Service
Bulk aloe is stored in our freezer at FFP. Immediately prior to shipment, the gel is thawed, packed and shipped. The customer receives the freshest, purest, true-to-nature material available. Our multi-million dollar food processing facility is routinely audited by Fortune 100 food processors. The size and technical capability of our staff and food processing expertise is a distinct competitive advantage.
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