All Articles, Food & Nutrition
Orange Juice: Are We the One’s Getting Squeezed?
| August 27, 2009 | |
| Jo Wehage : Head Operations Ego |
Orange juice is almost as Americana as apple pie and a staple on most breakfast tables, but according to a new book, we may be the ones getting squeezed. Most of us grew up embracing the cheerful colored juice as a natural and healthy start to the day and the go-to source for vitamin C. In the book Squeezed: What You Don’t Know About Orange Juice, author Alissa Hamilton explains that your glass of OJ may have been heat processed, watered down, sugared up, doctored by flavor engineers and stored for a year in million-gallon septic tanks.
While it pains me to taint the image of the fresh picked and squeezed health elixir from fine Florida orange groves, Hamilton’s book paints a far different picture.
Expiration Date
Let’s start with one of the more obvious. If you’re OJ has a 45-60 day shelf life, you’re holding a jug of a highly processed beverage in your hand. Real, fresh-squeezed orange juice is not going to last more than a week. And let’s remind ourselves, oranges have a season and that season is not 365 days long.
The Source
While Florida truly was the birthplace of the orange juice revolution and is still heralded as producing the finest orange juice (from Valencia oranges), most orange juice sold in North America now comes from Brazil where there are fewer environmental regulations, low-cost infrastructure and cheaper labor.
“Not From Concentrate” Not So Great
Perhaps most shocking to many of us is the insignificant difference between “concentrate” and the highly marketed (and more expensive) “not from concentrate.” Turns out that while the “not from concentrate” process is more expensive to manufacture; it doesn’t mean it’s fresher.
According to Hamilton, “not from concentrate” manufacturers take their pasteurized orange juice and store it in million-gallon aseptic storage tanks to ensure a year-round supply. Juice stored this way has to be stripped of oxygen, which also strips it of flavor. If you were to drink the juice straight from the tank it would taste like simple sugar water.
Flavor Engineers
To restore the coveted fresh orange juice flavor, juice companies hire flavor and fragrance companies. These are the same companies that create your favorite perfumes and colognes. They add flavor packs back to the juice to give us the flavor we come to expect from our favorite orange juice visions. Turns out different regions have different flavor preferences. Most of us in the US prefer flavor packs with high concentrations of ethyl butyrate as our version of fresh-squeezed.
Should We Be Buying Orange Juice?
Ms. Hamilton, who admits she’s not a dietician, recommends that if you like the taste of orange juice, then go ahead and buy it, but if your purchase is motivated by health reasons note that you’d get more vitamin C by eating a fresh orange.
Source of Vitamin C
Yes, of course oranges are a source of vitamin C, but many are surprised to learn that you can get more vitamin C from papaya, red bell peppers, steamed broccoli, Brussels sprouts & strawberries.
If you’re willing to reconsidering the orange juice ritual in your house, then go ahead and take a gander at the sugar content while you’re at it. Much of the processing makes for a huge intake of unwanted sugars first thing in the morning. If OJ is a must at your breakfast table, consider smaller glasses or water down the juice from the carton. Or better yet, take a bite of a nice juicy whole orange. The burst of juice as you bite in may well satisfy that juice sensation formerly found in your glass.
Sources:
http://www.whfoods.com/genpage.php?tname=nutrient&dbid=109
http://yalepress.typepad.com/squeezed/
http://www.typepad.com/services/trackback/6a00d8341c7c9f53ef011570af8b21970b
[5 Comments] [5 Comments]
So what is a decent OJ if your going to buy one?
That depends on what you’re looking for. If you’re looking for an in-depth analysis of the major brands, I have yet to see one, but let the expiration date be your guide there. If your goal is the freshest and healthiest oranges, then you need to consider 3 things: 1) the orange, 2) the season and 3) the expiration date.
1) As far as the orange: Florida Valencia oranges are the most sought-after oranges in the world. 2) Valencia oranges are in season from March to June. 3) Fresh squeezed orange juice is going to last 2 to 5 days, so you won’t find them in a mass produced product like Minute Maid, Tropicana or Simply Orange.
It’s important to note that the author of the book has less of an emphasis on nutrition and more on how limited our understanding is of common and seemingly simple food products.
The orange juice industry has argued that the flavor packs they add to their stripped and processed juice are derived from natural orange oils & essence. This is true, but even the most creative lawyer would have a hard time defending the process as natural.
The fragrance houses take the oils & essence, break them down into their constituent chemicals then reassemble the individual chemicals into configurations that resemble nothing found in nature. This allows manufacturers to mask lesser quality oranges, which may not only lack the flavor we seek, but come with environmental concerns from parts of the world where pesticide regulations are limited or non-existent.
The author’s main goal is to demonstrate that a mass produced orange juice product marketed with such phrases as “fresh squeezed” and “simple” are far from it. The illusion of the orange with a straw protruding out is misleading and could be dangerous for some. (She notes an example of one young boy who has allergic reactions to all processed brands, but can eat whole oranges without any problem.)
On the upside, even juice from the large manufacturers will have a larger percentage of fresh Valencia oranges during their peak season of March to June, so if there is a better time to drink those brands, that would be it.
There is one brand that seems to meet more of the criteria Jo describes in her article. Natalie’s Orchid Island. This product is flash pasteurized and tastes Far, Far better than any other Juice I’ve tried. It’s found refrigerated in the produce sections at Kroger and Whole foods. For a one half gallon bottle,about $4.99 at Kroger, more at whole foods. Watch the expiration dates on this product. Because of the price and apparent freshness , I’ve brought home spoiled bottles. In my opinion , it’s the only real orange juice product commonly available locallly.
I’m curious to know how fresh our oranges (the actual fruit) are since the season is only from March through June. How do they stay fresh in Dec through Feb?
March through June is the peak season for Florida Valencia oragnes. As you know oranges are a warm weather crop, so fall and winter produce is largely imported from other warm climates. Unfortunately your exposure to pesticides is much higher with most imported fruit. Check for the origin of your out-of-season produce, then check online for their agricultural standards – or lack-there-of.