What have the Tall Blacks basketball team, the Netherlands Elite National Triathlon team, and the freezer cabinets in virtually every supermarket in New Zealand got in common? Nelson-grown frozen blackcurrants!

Blackcurrants are going through a global retail renaissance and one of the world’s leading blackcurrant brands in creating innovation and new market growth is Sujon Berryfruits.

The family-owned company is known to many FMCG readers – it pioneered the retail frozen fruit industry in New Zealand back in the 1980s. Starting with boysenberries it quickly developed a complete berryfruit range, but the rising star of its portfolio is the blackcurrant.

In 2008 TV3’s Campbell Live programme showed Sujon frozen blackcurrants being made into a smoothie and being enjoyed by a team from the Sumner Les Mills Gym franchise, for its sports training recovery. That publicity led to interest from some key sports fitness and conditioning coaches. Research continued and the benefits were proven with remarkable results.

However, taking a handful of beautiful blackcurrants and dropping them in a smoothie machine works in the home kitchen but not in a triathlete high altitude training camp; and so Sujon pure blackcurrant powder was developed. Each teaspoon of the powder is the equivalent of around two heaped dessertspoons of the frozen blackcurrants and that’s the amount that’s been used in research human trials in both New Zealand and Japan.

The Sujon powder is now being used by a wide range of elite athletes, from champion boxers to racing cyclists. But, the two high profile teams using the Sujon blackcurrant right now are the NZ Tall Blacks and the Netherlands Elite National 2011 Triathlon team. Members of both teams use Sujon blackcurrant as a regular part of their training and post-event programmes.

“We don’t fully understand the reasons for the blackcurrants being effective in this way; but we know it really is effective,” says Sujon sales and marketing manager Michelle Gibb.

“So until scientists can identify what molecules in blackcurrants are responsible for helping human muscles the way they do, we’re a great believer in keeping our product as natural and wholesome as we can. When we created the powder we simply freeze-dried our whole frozen blackcurrants and finely ground the result. We took the seed out as human digestive systems don’t digest seeds and we knew the seeds weren’t in the product used for the research. Otherwise those global athletes are getting what every NZ supermarket consumer can get by using our Sujon whole-frozen blackcurrants,” says Gibb.

And you don’t have to be in one of our national sports teams to get the benefits of the Sujon research says Gibb.

“The initial research was done in Japan where they were investigating the use of blackcurrants to make the eye more beautiful and give better focus using computer screens and the like. At the same time one institute researched the use of blackcurrants for repetitive muscle use syndrome: they were looking at ‘typist shoulder’.

“It was the typist research that put us onto using blackcurrant for sport recovery but other research showed blackcurrants reduce computer eye strain and improve mental acuity. So if your computer mouse and video screen is your gymnasium, this Sujon Smoothie will be good for you as well as for the athlete in the family!” says Gibb.

Blackcurrant sport focus smoothie recipe

• Approximately two heaped dessertspoons of Sujon frozen blackcurrants (around 40 blackcurrants)

• One chopped apple (skin on and cored)

• One cup unsweetened apple juice (use sweetened juice if the blackcurrants and the apple are a little sour for your palate, or add some honey)

• Handful of ice

Blend until a richly coloured magenta-purple colour.

So simple and yet so amazingly good for you.

Enjoy and then go find your sport and excel!