So you like a glass of orange juice....

[Are_grits_groceries]

What could be simpler than a glass of orange juice? The beverage holds a place in the pantheon of wholesome American breakfast foods, on equal footing with toast, cereal, and eggs. It's pure and natural, ads tell us, and we buy both the sentiment and the product. More than 620 million gallons of orange juice are sold per year in the United States, according to market research from Nielsen.

Author Alissa Hamilton would have us take another look at the glass on the breakfast table. That simplicity is actually the result of a complicated process - juice stored in tanks for long periods, then goosed with flavor packs to taste like fruit again. Her book, "Squeezed: What You Don't Know About Orange Juice," due out in May from Yale University Press, reveals that orange juice, with its image as a natural Florida product, bears the fingerprints of chemists and is often shipped from South America.
<snip>
IDEAS: What isn't straightforward about orange juice?

HAMILTON: It's a heavily processed product. It's heavily engineered as well. In the process of pasteurizing, juice is heated and stripped of oxygen, a process called deaeration, so it doesn't oxidize. Then it's put in huge storage tanks where it can be kept for upwards of a year. It gets stripped of flavor-providing chemicals, which are volatile. When it's ready for packaging, companies such as Tropicana hire flavor companies such as Firmenich to engineer flavor packs to make it taste fresh. People think not-from-concentrate is a fresher product, but it also sits in storage for quite a long time.
<snip>
IDEAS: To what degree is orange juice still made from Florida oranges?

HAMILTON: Most concentrate is now from Brazil. Shipping it is relatively easy. Until recently, you could count on Pure Premium being from Florida, but shipping technology has advanced. Companies like Tropicana have started shipping full-strength juice from Brazil rather than buying and squeezing in Florida. The majority of not-from-concentrate is coming from Florida-squeezed oranges, but that's certainly changing. The orange growing is moving to Brazil, which grows the most oranges for juice by far. Land is cheaper, and environmental regulations are almost nonexistent.

IDEAS: How is this affecting Florida growers?

HAMILTON: They are really struggling because of the growth of the industry. This product designed to help them has now effectively made them redundant. The groves are disappearing. They're being turned over in favor of condominiums. That was my ultimate aim, to show the connection between how processing does affect growing and how we as buyers - our lack of knowledge - does have implications for agriculture.

http://www.boston.com/bostonglobe/ideas/articles/2009/02/22/qa_with_alissa_hamilton/?page=full

Blechh! Nothing is real........

[RebelOne]

1. Squeeze your own oranges. That way you know what you are drinking. n/t

[Marrah_G]

2. OJ has become to expensive.

I only buy it if there is a really good sale, which is rare.

[GinaMaria]

3. I stopped drinking it b/c of all the sugar

but this is great information. There's a much bigger picture: That was my ultimate aim, to show the connection between how processing does affect growing and how we as buyers - our lack of knowledge - does have implications for agriculture.

[Vickers]

4. Go to your local fruit/veggie stand and get the real thing.

:thumbsup:

I never drink store-bought juices any more, too much crap and not enough taste. I just eat a grapefruit (or whatever).