Did you ever wonder where the recipe for Juspy came from? It all started with one simple goal: We wanted something that was not only nutrient-dense but also actually did something for the body. It needed to be full of the good stuff AND it needed to function. We wanted to create a product that served multiple purposes with the inspiration being the postnatal body — undernourished, tired, and in need of protein, fiber, essential fatty acids, and anti-inflammatory properties. That was our starting point.
From there, Leonie began looking for ingredients that matched those needs. She put together an Excel spreadsheet, listing the required nutrients on one side and potential ingredients on the other. This allowed us to mix and match, seeking the perfect blend.
At that point, Leonie teamed up with Eddie O'Neill from Teagasc and Wendy Roberts from Creative Flavours. Together, they debated what should go into the product, focusing on creating a clean label. Though this led to some friendly heated discussions between Eddie and Leonie (especially about using natural sugars instead of cane sugar). Leonie always came back to the vision of having a product where people could have their cake and eat it so to speak by marrying taste and health together.
Leonie wanted collagen in it as the hero ingredient. She had been taking it for years, blending it with pea and rice protein to complete the amino acid profile. Why those 3? Well simply because for Leonie whey protein just never agreed with her. Plus, at 36 she was starting to think about aging and was all too aware of the amazing benefits of collagen not just for skin but for hair, bones and joint health, as well as the overall support it gives to the body. Being postnatal - losing hair and repairing that pelvic floor, Leonie from her specialist training in that area knew how important collagen would be for her postnatal recovery.
The decision to make Juspy chocolate-flavored was simple. When people are tired and stressed, they often crave sweet things for comfort. Leonie had been a fan of cacao for years; an incredible ingredient for energy, hormone balancing, and comfort. She regularly made her own hot chocolate using coconut sugar to mellow out the bitterness of raw cacao.When she went looking for a natural sugar, coconut sugar, with its caramel notes and low glycemic index, was a no-brainer to include in the recipe.
The product development process was such a learning curve. Leonie’s background was in art, branding and movement - not developing a food product. It is a LONG process with so much to consider. It took us about 15 rounds of kitchen trials to perfect Juspy over one year. We started in a small industrial kitchen, measuring everything down to the last microgram and tweaked it as we went along. Every tiny adjustment meant starting the process over again—cooking it up, cooling it down, and tasting it until we got it just right.
We started small, experimenting with ingredients in an industrial kitchen. Every gram, pinch, and sprinkle was carefully measured to find the right balance. The technical process of tweaking one ingredient and seeing how it affected the entire formula was fascinating.
Over the course of a year, we went through around 15 kitchen trials. Each time we made a change, we had to start the process all over again. This involved cooking up new batches, cooling them, tasting, and refining the recipe. There were so many trips back and forth to Fermoy with my new baby strapped to me, but every batch brought us closer to the final product. In the end, we landed on a recipe with 12 key ingredients— Bovine Collagen, Cacao, Coconut Milk, Coconut Nectar, Sunflower Seed Butter, Flax Oil, Chicory Root Syrup, Himalayan Pink Salt, Camu Camu, Brazilian Orange Oil.
It was like a Terry’s Chocolate Orange ut thick like a melted Easter Egg. It was pretty amazing! So when you taste Juspy, know that every sip and sprinkle is the result of years of thought, care, and love over the years. While V.2 powder tastes different, know that developing Juspy has been a labor of love - the love of taste and health combined.
