I'm often puzzled by the fact that people seem to think they actually need orange juice with their breakfast.
Why? Is it brainwashing through the years? Why not just eat an orange? I've never been able to figure this out. I never drink orange juice, but I sure love citrus fruit. However, I know several people who must have their Tropicana in the morning. |
There's a big fallacy out there though. And it's about convenience food, so convenient that people probably prefer not to think of it as a highly processed food. It's your breakfast orange juice.
If someone asked what Florida was famous for, I'd say, "Oranges!" knowing I was right.
But, we can't say that anymore.
Did you know that whole orange groves are being ripped out of the ground, and are making way for new condos and tourist attractions? That Brazil actually supplies our favourite orange juices these days?
The focus in Florida is now on recreation and retirees, the beach and golf. Forget groves of golden oranges. Let's become dependent on other countries to do the work needed for our OJ.
Marketing maneuvers
During the early part of the twentieth-century people ate fresh oranges, because the alternative, commercially made orange juice, really didn't taste too good.
But then home kitchen juicers became the rage for a short while. People were starting to drink their oranges, and they needed to because of overproduction in the orange industry. Now we don't have to bother with home juicers. We can buy cartons of refrigerated OJ in the supermarket. We buy them because of very good, deceptive marketing. And in fact, we even think when we buy Tropicana, the most popular one, it's freshly squeezed! Even weirder, many people believe Tropicana actually squeezed the juice from 18 oranges to fill that carton! |
They store the juice by removing all the oxygen and taste from it, then they add a flavor pack to add flavor again.
No one knows what's actually in these flavor packs, because it's a deep dark secret -- but they do know that ethyl butyrate is found in heavy concentrations in them.
The reason for this is it gives off a fragrance of fresh oranges that people in North America love.
Orange juice can also have other things added and manufacturers can still call it orange juice, according to research by Hamilton. Details below.
"Manufacturers can also add a variety of things to the beverage and still only call it "orange juice," including orange essence, oil or pulp; various kinds of sugar (invert sugar, dry dextrose, glucose solids); a preservative; and the enzymes amylase, cellulase and pectinase. The preservative can be one of myriad chemicals, including methyl-hydroxy benzoate, benzoic acid, potassium benzoate and sulphurous acid, many of which can have side-effects like headaches and an upset stomach for people who are sensitive to them and take in a high enough quantity. The benzoate preservatives in particular are cause for caution because they can, in the presence of certain other common food chemicals, degrade into benzene, a known carcinogen." (Author, Alissa Hamilton.) |
It could have been in a tank for up to a year before you found it in that cooler.
And while Tropicana brags about it not being from concentrate, it IS pasteurized.
You'll find that info in the smallest, legally possible print on the carton, well hidden. There were years of court wrangling before the company was forced to declare it.
The best knowledge that comes from it is, if you want HEALTHY squeezed OJ, you can only get it by squeezing it yourself.
Sorry about that.
But, if you simply peel and eat an orange, that's the best of all.