Best Orange Juice Brands

Do you love orange juice? Then you must be aware of the popular orange juice brands in the market. Just scroll down to find out what goes into packaged orange juice and which are the best orange juice brands.

Orange juice, like other fruit juices, is a great option whenever you need a refreshing drink: during the hot, dry summers, after a strenuous workout, or at the end of a hectic day. The aerated soft drinks available in the market may look tempting but they do more harm than good. All they contain is sugar, synthetic food colors, flavors, preservatives and dissolved carbon dioxide. So, if you love your body and wish to stay healthy, fruit juices are the way to go! Different fruit juices have different nutritive values, which is why intake of fruit juice should be an essential part of your daily diet. For example, orange juice is rich in vitamins, especially vitamin C. But the question is, where to obtain the fruit juice from? Is packaged fruit juice safe for consumption on a daily basis? For answers to these questions and more, read on.

When it comes to fruit juices, different people have different tastes. Some prefer mango, others prefer grapes and still others prefer guava, pineapple or cranberry. However, for its high nutritive value and great taste, orange juice is the most preferred of the lot! Before we move on to what are the best brands in orange juice, let us go a little deeper into the types of packaged orange juice available and the benefits of orange juice, in general.

Types of Packaged Orange Juice

Before you pick up that packet of orange juice from the shelf at the grocer’s, it is important for you to know that not all orange juice, are the same. There are basically three varieties of orange juice: frozen concentrate, reconstituted concentrate and not-from-concentrate.

Frozen Concentrate (FC)

Frozen orange juice concentrate is orange juice from which the water content has been evaporated. This facilitates storage by increasing the shelf life. In order to obtain a frozen concentrate, fresh orange juice is vacuum dried and subjected to temperatures as low as -12^oC. At the time of bottling, distilled water is added to raise the concentration to roughly three times of that of freshly squeezed juice. When you buy a bottle, you need to further add water to lower the concentration, before you can enjoy a glass of it!

Reconstituted Concentrate (RC)

In reconstituted orange juice concentrate, sufficient water is added to the frozen concentrate at the manufacturing unit itself, so that you are not required to add any more water. Reconstituted orange juice concentrate is basically, a ready-to-drink concentrate which you can consume directly. A major share of the global orange juice market, is reconstituted concentrate.

Not-From-Concentrate (NFC)

This is the purest form of orange juice that you can possibly get. The fresh juice squeezed from the fruits, is pasteurized, processed and packed. This is natural juice and not diluted concentrate. NFC is costlier when compared to either RC or FC, as it is packaged orange juice with a taste quite similar to freshly squeezed juice.

The constituents of orange juice, which have several beneficial effects on our body, include vitamin C, citric acid, ascorbic acid, sugar, potassium, magnesium and folic acid. The citric and ascorbic acids present in orange juice, make it a powerful antioxidant. Before you pick up a bottle of orange juice, make sure to check for the amount of added sugar in it, as too much added sugar increases the calories and makes it unsuitable for consumption on a regular basis. There are several nutritive facts about orange juice, the chief ones being, that orange juice keeps your gums healthy, prevents heart disease and formation of kidney stones, lowers the risk of heart attack. The potassium in orange juice helps in protein and fat metabolism.

Best Brands of Orange Juice

Today, there are several brands of orange juice in the market. Not only this, there are quite many variations among the products of a particular brand, such as pulp free, some pulp, no pulp, etc. Tropicana, Minute Maid, Sunny Delight and Tampico are some of the brands of orange juice. Here’s a list of the ten best orange juice brands in the U.S.

• Tropicana
• Florida’s Natural
• Minute Maid
• Simply Orange
• Sunny Delight
• Odwalla
• Natalie’s Orchid Island Juice Company
• Organic Valley
• Noble Organic
• Columbia Gorge

In spite of the fact that orange juice is rich in nutrition, too much intake can cause damage to the teeth, because of its acidic nature. Also, it is recommended that you drink juice squeezed from fresh oranges at home, as opposed to packaged orange juice available in the market. Even better if you can ditch the juice and grab the whole fruit instead, as the fruit has added nutritional value along with essential fibers.

However, if you are one of those who simply prefer fruit juices, make it a point to buy juice that is pure with no synthetic colors, flavors or preservatives added to it. This will ensure that the glass of delicious orange juice you start your day with, keeps you active and healthy!

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