It takes more than squeezing and bottling, to get high quality, fresh and constituent rich aloe gel. Some people even grow aloe plant at home and make their own gel and juice. When you go online and search for aloe products, tens of pages will show up – all offering the best, fresh, concentrated - you name it – aloe gel.
Plantation and harvesting
Warm and sunny climate is perfect habitat for Aloe Barbadensis. Does the grower use pesticides and herbicides? What about fertilizers? To eliminate any chance of cross-contamination of the gel during the harvesting process, Aloe leaf must be cut by hand. Otherwise, aloin, yellowish substance from the outer layers of the leaf, will get in contact and mix with gel. Such a product could be dangerous for pregnant women, it becomes strong purgative and it is not the best product to drink.
Processing
Most of the organic compounds will oxidize and deteriorate within hours if it’s not properly stabilized and preserved. It is of fundamental importance to stabilize aloe vera gel as soon as possible (within 2 hours using cold stabilization process). Is the gel stabilized and preserved thermally? Is it just that the leaves are crushed and the mass is filtered through a carbon filter? If it’s filtered, you will not find aloe pulp in the bottle, it may have a thickening agent added to fool average consumer. Does the label “scream”: NO preservatives? If so, then it is most likely that the gel is “stabilized” by radiation.
Packaging and storage
Some products are sold as pills. Basically, all liquid is removed by evaporation, or concentrated, thermally. In such a process, there is barely any bio-active ingredient left intact, except, maybe few sugars. No matter how you stabilize organic compounds, sooner or later they will degrade. Only fresh aloe gel is usable and beneficial. What is the sales, and therefore, production volume of your aloe vendor? High demand, high throughput process ensures that the gel formulation you buy is almost fresh, assuming that the gel was not destroyed by thermal stabilization or irradiated.
- The power of aloe – from the inside out