Orange juice
Orange juice is a liquid extract of the orange tree fruit, produced by squeezing or reaming oranges. It comes in several different varieties, including blood orange, navel oranges, valencia orange, clementine, and tangerine. As well as variations in oranges used, some varieties include differing amounts of juice vesicles, known as "pulp" in American English, and " bits" in British English. These vesicles contain the juice of the orange and can be left in or removed during the manufacturing process. How juicy these vesicles are depend upon many factors, such as species, variety, and season. In American English, the beverage name is often abbreviated as "OJ".
Commercial orange juice with a long shelf life is made by pasteurizing the juice and removing the oxygen from it. This removes much of the taste, necessitating the later addition of a flavor pack, generally made from orange products. Additionally, some juice is further processed by drying and later rehydrating the juice, or by concentrating the juice and later adding water to the concentrate.
The health value of orange juice is debatable: it has a high concentration of vitamin C, but also a very high concentration of simple sugars, comparable to soft drinks. As a result, some government nutritional advice has been adjusted to encourage substitution of orange juice with raw fruit, which is digested more slowly, and limit daily consumption.
History
During World War II, American soldiers often rejected the vitamin C-packed lemon-flavored drink powder found in K-rations because of its unappetizing taste. Thus, the government searched for a better alternative that would fulfill the nutritional needs of the soldiers and prevent diseases such as scurvy while still having a desirable taste. The government and the Florida Department of Citrus worked with a group of scientists to develop a product superior to the canned orange juice available in the 1940s. The result was frozen, concentrated orange juice; this was not until three years after the war had ended.By 1949, orange juice processing plants in Florida were producing over 10 million gallons of concentrated orange juice. Consumers liked concentrated canned orange juice as it was affordable, tasty, convenient, and high in vitamin C. The preparation was simple: empty the container of frozen concentrate into a measured volume of water and stir. However, by the 1980s, food scientists developed a fresher-tasting juice known as reconstituted ready-to-serve juice. Eventually in the 1990s, "not from concentrate" orange juice was developed. Orange juice is a common breakfast beverage in the United States.
Due to the importance of oranges to the economy of Florida, "the juice obtained from mature oranges of the species Citrus sinensis and hybrids thereof" was adopted as the official beverage of Florida in 1967.
Nutrition
A cup serving of fresh orange juice is 88% water and contains 26 grams of carbohydrates, two grams of protein, and 0.5 grams each of dietary fiber and fat. One cup supplies 112 calories and 149% of the Daily Value of vitamin C, with moderate amounts of potassium, thiamin, and folate.Because of its citric acid content, orange juice is acidic, with a typical pH of around 3.5.
As of 2020, consumption of orange juice was under preliminary research for the potential to improve nutrition and affect cardiovascular diseases.
Commercial orange juice and concentrate
Frozen concentrated orange juice
Commercial squeezed orange juice is pasteurized and filtered before being evaporated under vacuum and heat. After removal of most of the water, this concentrate, about 65% sugar by weight, is then stored at about. Essences, Vitamin C, and oils extracted during the vacuum concentration process may be added back to restore flavor and nutrition.When water is added to freshly thawed concentrated orange juice, it is said to be reconstituted.
The product was developed in 1948 at the University of Florida's Citrus Research and Education Center. Since, it has emerged as a soft commodity, and futures contracts have traded in New York since 1966. Options on FCOJ were introduced in 1985. From the late 1950s to the mid-1980s, the product had the greatest orange juice market share, but not-from-concentrate juices surpassed FCOJ in the 1980s.
Not from concentrate
Orange juice that is pasteurized and then sold to consumers without having been concentrated is labeled as "not from concentrate". Just as "from concentrate" processing, most "not from concentrate" processing reduces the natural flavor from the juice. The largest producers of "not from concentrate" use a production process where the juice is placed in aseptic storage, with the oxygen stripped from it, for up to a year.Removing the oxygen also strips out flavor-providing compounds, and so manufacturers add a flavor pack in the final step, which Cook's Illustrated magazine describes as containing "highly engineered additives." Flavor pack formulas vary by region, because consumers in different parts of the world have different preferences related to sweetness, freshness and acidity. According to the citrus industry, the Food and Drug Administration does not require the contents of flavor packs to be detailed on a product's packaging.
One common component of flavor packs is ethyl butyrate, a natural aroma that people associate with freshness, and which is removed from juice during pasteurization and storage. Cook's Illustrated sent juice samples to independent laboratories, and found that while fresh-squeezed juice naturally contained about 1.19 milligrams of ethyl butyrate per liter, juice that had been commercially processed had levels as high as 8.53 milligrams per liter.
Canned orange juice
A small fraction of fresh orange juice is canned. Canned orange juice retains vitamin C much better than bottled juice. The canned product loses flavor, however, when stored at room temperature for more than 12 weeks. In the early years of canned orange juice, the acidity of the juice caused the juice to have a metallic taste. In 1931, Dr. Philip Phillips developed a flash pasteurization process that eliminated this problem and significantly increased the market for canned orange juice.Freshly squeezed, unpasteurized juice
Fresh-squeezed, the unpasteurized juice is the closest to consuming the orange itself. This version of the juice consists of oranges that are squeezed and then bottled without having any additives or flavor packs inserted. The juice is not subjected to pasteurization. Depending on storage temperature, freshly squeezed, unpasteurized orange juice can have a shelf life of 5 to 23 days.Major orange juice brands
In the U.S., the major orange juice brand is Tropicana Products, which possesses nearly 65% of the market share. Tropicana also has a large presence in Latin America, Europe, and Central Asia. Competing products include Minute Maid and Florida's Natural Growers.In Australia, Daily Juice is a major brand of partially fresh, partially preserved, orange juice.
In the United Kingdom, major orange juice brands include Del Monte and Princes.
Additives
Some producers add citric acid or ascorbic acid to juice beyond what is naturally found in the orange. Some also include other nutrients. Often, additional vitamin C is added to replace that destroyed in pasteurization. Additional calcium may be added. Vitamin D, not found naturally in oranges, may be added as well. Sometimes omega-3 fatty acids from fish oils are added to orange juice. Low-acid varieties of orange juice also are available.FCOJ producers generally use evaporators to remove much of the water from the juice in order to decrease its weight and decrease transportation costs. Other juice producers generally deaerate the juice so that it can be sold much later in the year.
Because such processes remove the distinct aroma compounds that give orange juice a fresh-squeezed taste, producers later add back these compounds in a proprietary mixture, called a "flavor pack", in order to improve the taste and to ensure a consistent year-round taste. The compounds in the flavor packs are derived from orange peels by squeezing the oil out of them. Producers do not mention the addition of flavor packs on the label of the orange juice.
Types of orange
Common orange juice is made from the sweet orange. Different cultivars have different properties, and a producer may mix cultivar juices to get the desired taste. Orange juice usually varies between shades of orange and yellow, although some ruby red or blood orange varieties are a reddish-orange or even pinkish. This is due to different pigmentation in ruby red oranges.The blood orange is a mutant of the sweet orange. The mandarin orange and the clementine and tangerine varieties are often used for sparkling juice drinks.
Many brands of organic orange juices have become available on the market.
Processing and manufacture
Manufacture of frozen concentrated orange juice
The processing of orange to frozen concentrated orange juice begins with testing the orange fruit for quality to ensure it is safe for the process. Then the fruit is cleaned and washed thoroughly and orange oil is taken from the peel of the orange. Next, the juice is extracted from the orange and is screened in order to remove seeds and large pieces of pulp. The juice is then heated to 190 to 200 °F in order to inactivate natural enzymes found in the juice. The concentration step occurs in a high vacuum evaporator where the water content in the juice is evaporated while the juice sugar compounds and solids are concentrated. The vacuum evaporator is a low temperature falling film evaporator, which operates at a temperature between 60 and 80 °F. Evaporators work in a continuous manner in that fresh juice is added as concentrate is being constantly removed. The concentration process increases the soluble solid portion of the juice from 12 °Brix to 60-70 °Brix.The concentrated juice is held in a cold wall tank and is stored at or below 35 °F to prevent browning and development of undesired flavors. Next, a small amount of fresh juice is added to the concentrated juice to restore natural and fresh flavors of orange juice that have been lost through the concentration process. Specific cold-pressed orange oils are used to restore the lost aroma and volatile flavors. After the addition of fresh juice, the brix content is reduced to 42 °F. The fresh juice is referred to as "cut-back" in the industry and attributes to 7-10% of the total juice. Orange peel oil is also added if the oil content is below the required level. The concentrate is then further cooled in a continuous cooler or cold wall tank to 20 to 25 °F. The concentrate is canned using steam injection methods to sterilize the lid and develop a vacuum in the can. The cans then undergo final freezing where they are conveyed on a perforated belt in an air blast at -40 °F. After freezing, the product is stored at 0 °F in a refrigerated warehouse.