Frequently Asked Questions
The powder is somewhat like a dormant seed. While the seed is kept dry, it is very stable at elevated temperatures. Place it in a moist and warm environment and it will sprout with new life. The powder of properly dehydrated juice powder is very stable at warm temperatures but, when reconstituted in water, it is enzymatically alive and will not tolerate excessive heat without degradation.
The 110 – 120°F temperatures in the back of the UPS or USPS truck are not too extreme for the fully dried powder. Damage is minimal as long as the jars remain sealed, preventing moisture from compounding the high heat conditions.
Our testing of old expired BarleyMax powder showed that it was still more enzymatically active than many other similar, non-expired powders on the market, showing the stability of the BarleyMax powder. (Either high heat for a short time or lower heat for a long time would have similar effects on the powder, so that is a pretty good test.) The powders tested in our lab are shipped to the lab by standard shipping.
Many enzymatically deactivated powder products are whole-leaf powders, made by drying wheat or barley leaves. It requires more heat or time to dry intact cells than it does to dry a juice already extracted from plant cells. When enzymes are exposed to elevated heat for too long, they are deactivated in these products, so you’re paying for fiber that does no good.