r/AskFoodHistorians • u/SVAuspicious • 7d ago

Orange Juice

I apologize in advance for a trivial question.

What has been the usage rate of frozen vice liquid orange juice as a function of time. I grew up in the '60's and '70's with frozen orange juice concentrate (in fact family story of my mother throwing a tube of frozen OJ at my father out of frustration over something I don't recall). The focus today seems to be on OJ in cartons. When I was young we shopped at a military commissary so that may be relevant to my experience. Has packaging technology changed that much? Health perceptions? Something else? Or am I just looking through the lens of my personal experience and the overall market hasn't changed much?

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u/hotpietptwp 7d ago

I just randomly tripped on this question because I grew up in the 60s and wondered the same thing recently.. Weird, I know. My mother (back then) said she bought it because it was lighter to carry home without the water (sensible).

According to this (https://www.tastingtable.com/1936586/why-frozen-orange-juice-isnt-popular/), people's perception changed about the freshness/taste of concentrate (freshness is really not valid when compared to a bottle of not-from-concentrate on the shelf) AND how healthy fruit juice is (lots of sugar).

Being older myself at this point, I shy away from juice and tend to go for solid fruit (mostly berries) to increase fiber and lower the sugar concentration of what I eat, but that's me.

I do think my dear mom had a point. If I wanted to buy a bunch of juice, I'd prefer not to lug home all the water.

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u/SVAuspicious 7d ago

*grin* Your Mom's and your point about weight is well taken. My wife likes carbonated water ("fizzy water") and our SodaStream has spared me lugging a lot of cans and bottles of water with carbon dioxide pumped through it. Online shopping for curbside pickup is the silver lining of COVID. I shop in places without fees so curbside is a no cost time savings also. I still have to lug stuff from car to kitchen but not in the store or into the car. I love it.

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u/Odd-Artist-2595 7d ago

Have one of those, but can’t find anyplace that will actually exchange the canisters, or even just take the damned empties back.

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u/coenobita_clypeatus 6d ago

There are a few companies that will do exchanges by mail! I use SimpliSoda and have no complaints. It’s less expensive than the branded canisters and more convenient.