Orange juice
A common breakfast beverage made from squeezed oranges.
Orange juice is a liquid extract of the orange tree fruit, produced by squeezing or reaming oranges. It comes in several varieties, including blood orange, navel oranges, valencia orange, clementine, and tangerine, and may contain varying amounts of juice vesicles (pulp). The beverage is often abbreviated as OJ in American English.
- type
- Beverage
- primary_ingredient
- Oranges (Citrus sinensis and hybrids)
- common_varieties
- Blood orange, navel, valencia, clementine, tangerine
- official_beverage_of
- Florida (adopted 1967)
- typical_pH
- Around 3.5
- major_US_brand
- Tropicana Products (approximately 20-30% market share)
Lore & Background
During World War II, American soldiers rejected the lemon-flavored drink powder in K-rations due to its taste. The government and the Florida Department of Citrus worked with scientists to develop a better alternative, resulting in frozen concentrated orange juice, which first saw commercial success in 1945. By 1949, Florida processing plants produced over 10 million gallons of concentrated orange juice, which consumers found affordable, tasty, and convenient. In the 1980s, food scientists developed reconstituted ready-to-serve juice, and in the 1990s, 'not from concentrate' (NFC) orange juice emerged.
Reader's Guide
Orange juice has been a significant commercial product, particularly in Florida, where it was adopted as the official beverage in 1967. Its health value is debated: it has high vitamin C but also high simple sugars comparable to soft drinks, leading some nutritional advice to encourage substitution with raw fruit. Commercial processing often involves pasteurization and oxygen removal, which strips flavor, necessitating the addition of flavor packs made from orange products. The major US brand is Tropicana Products, with nearly 65% market share. Frozen concentrated orange juice (FCOJ) dominated the market from the late 1950s to the mid-1980s, when not-from-concentrate juices surpassed it. The product's development and trade have had lasting economic impact, with futures contracts traded since 1966.
Did You Know?
- Orange juice was adopted as the official beverage of Florida in 1967.
- Frozen concentrated orange juice was first commercially developed in 1945, with the key breakthrough and patent filed by private industry, leading to production by 1946.
- A cup of fresh orange juice supplies 138% of the Daily Value of vitamin C (based on the FDA's 2020 update).
- Commercial orange juice often contains added flavor packs, which are not required to be detailed on packaging.
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