Sweet apple juice: the first trend product

Fresh apple juice, from the mid-1920s this became a big topic in Vorarlberg, too. Fruit growing associations and the national "Volkswohl" association organized courses on the new processes in many communities. The unfermented juice opened up new sales opportunities for fruit growers and also served as a weapon in the fight against widespread alcoholism.

The Rauch family was also soon producing fresh apple juice - using the usual warm method: They filled juice hot into specially prepared wooden barrels and sold it over the winter. But Franz Josef and his sons were probably not satisfied with the quality of the resulting juice. Heat impairs the flavour.

They discovered the better method at the beginning of the 1930s in Switzerland. The Böhi process preserves the filtered juice using carbonic acid and pressure tanks for storage - preserving all the goodness. Although this was more expensive than anything else, it promised the best juice. And: it was almost unknown in Austria. In 1933 Rauch installed Austria's first Böhi plant with five 5,000-litre pressure tanks. Clear Rauch apple juice in swing top bottles became a bestseller over the subsequent years in Vorarlberg and Tyrol.