Four years ago, Guido and Natalia Annoni decided to swap the rat race for the jungle – heading north from Sydney with their kids in tow, seeking a better life in the Northern Rivers.
Their dream was to run a juice stall at the local farmers’ market and, as luck would have it, Jungle Juice, a longstanding stall at Byron Farmers Market, was up for sale.
‘As well as the stall, the business included the lease of the farm at Mooball,’ Guido says. ‘And while we didn’t have any experience with farming, the orchard itself is quite small and well established, so it was something we could manage. And the previous owners gave us lots of guidance.’
The majority of the produce used in the juices and smoothies at Jungle Juice comes straight from the farm. The rest is sourced from other farmers at the market.
Guido says the main fruits they grow are dragonfruit and black sapote, alongside a citrus orchard that includes oranges, mandarins, lemons, limes, grapefruit and lemonade fruit.
‘It’s been a learning curve and a lot of hard work, but we enjoy it – especially picking all the fruit and seeing how everything grows year after year.’
But Guido says the highlight is market days.
‘We love the atmosphere at the farmers’ markets and being part of the market community. It’s so meaningful to be able to provide people with local produce that’s beneficial to their health. We couldn’t be happier to be able to be a part of that.’
Jungle Juice offers a range of freshly made juices and smoothies, but if Guido had to choose just one, he says the top choice on the juice front would be the Energiser, which includes beetroot, carrot, ginger, apple and celery, while the most popular smoothie is the dragonfruit, which has dragonfruit, passionfruit, banana and strawberries.
‘The other smoothie that’s pretty popular is the Black Mama, which has black sapote, banana, coconut cream and cow or nut milk,’ he says.
And now that we’re coming into the cooler months, keep an eye out for the Citrus Mix – a mix of all the citrus on the farm so it’s packed with vitamin C – which will be available around late May when the family starts citrus harvest.
You can find Jungle Juice at Byron Farmers Market every Thursday morning.
Byron Farmers Market is held Thursdays, 7–11am at Butler St Reserve and Bangalow Farmers Market is Saturdays, 7–11am behind the Bangalow pub.
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