It turns out that a lot of the orange juice sold in the US isn’t what you might initially think of as “orange juice.” Technically, of course, the liquid (or concentrate) is considered orange juice, but like a lot of the things that we enjoy in this modern age, it might be hard to identify at certain stages of the process.

Yesterday on KCRW’s Good Food, Dr. Alissa Hamilton spoke about her just-published study of the orange juice industry, a book entitled “Squeezed.” After hearing her talk, I eagerly await her follow-up text “Premium Poison,” examining the true meaning of “organic” (according to the FDA) and how our “organic” peanut supply added the salmonella flavoring.

This continuous assault on food icons has got to stop! First Michael Pollan declared twinkies to be “not food,” and now this? Really? Turns out that labeling something “100% juice from fresh squeezed oranges” and “100% fresh squeezed orange juice” are two very, very different things. And, more than likely, the container in your fridge is labeled the former and not the latter.

Yup, I had forgotten, but if you derive flavor compounds from “natural ingredients,” you don’t necessarily have to identify those added compounds on your food label. Fast Food Nation had a really good piece about this, specifically as it relates to reconstituting flavor into industrially produced “food.” Well, guess what: to supply orange juice year round, growers strip the juice of flavor, pasturize it, store it in massive tanks (basically as sugar water), and then add flavor compounds back in when the juice is bottled for market.

Okay, I am a science-friendly guy. I also like getting my orange juice year round, so why bother with these half-measures? Aren’t others questioning whether our bodies properly absorb vitamin c from a box of OJ?  If we don’t, why not simply sell packets of sweetener & orange flavor compounds? Is there any actual consumer benefit (flavor OR health) to shipping liquid orange juice as opposed to concentrate?

I would love it if I could get diet grape concentrate that tasted like a ’61 Bordeaux. I would still pay a premium* for the “real thing,” because I am partial to craft and to the haphazard nature of winemaking (like distilling, cattle-raising, pottery, etc.), to terroir and to skill. . . but please let me expand my pallet in an affordable manner or don’t sell me flavored sugar water.

*Actually, I go for the Costco $10-$15 approach to wine and I can’t imagine being the person who would purchase a ’61 Bordeaux. But I would love to sample the closest chemical approximate!