Freshly squeezed orange juice is so much better, and way more expensive, than tetrapacked or frozen
Growing up, orange juice was a valued commodity in our family, in that it was rare on our table. Orange juice was expensive to buy and my family could not afford it on a regular basis. While we were “encouraged” to drink water in actuality we had no choice. For this reason, I provide orange and apple juice to our Little Weeds. To me orange juice is a daily reminder of the importance of the small things in life. In a revelation of sorts I set up a taste test of freshly squeezed vs cartoned orange juice (OJ) for the Little Weeds. It was no surprise that they were able to identify which one was freshly squeezed, and also no surprise which one they preferred. Freshly squeezed orange juice is so much better in taste than cartoned orange juice. You really cannot believe all the marketing and packaging of products, as they can warp your life perspective.
The randomness of life continues. I happened upon a glass juicer on sale at a garage sale here in Scarborough/Toronto, Canada. With no moving parts and all glass construction, this tool screams “old school”. A couple of months before on a whim we purchased a plastic juicer, where the freshly squeezed juice runs down to a cup attached below. It is difficult to wash and just Ok to use. The glass version is much simpler, does the job and is easier to wash. Simple but effective, is this glass juicer, just the way I like it.
The Little Weed could not wait to get home to try it. As we usually have fresh oranges in the house, he was soon happily grinding orange halves into juice. It is hard work. Two oranges, with some effort, yields a delicious cup of freshly squeezed orange juice. The taste and quality simply cannot be matched when compared to any packaged orange juice in the grocery store, no matter how fancy the packaging. The taste is in the tongue, unequivocally, and with certainty.
My lesson to the Little Weeds were many. Firstly, there is value in some of the old ways. Modern is not necessarily better. While cartoned OJ is convenient and available year round, there has always been a better product out there, known to everyone from the beginning of time. Oranges picked off the tree, cut into halves and squeezed will give you a much superior product.
Quality has its costs, one of which is increased effort. In this modern age of convenience, some kids will not make any type of significant effort. If it is too hard, takes too long or takes too much effort, they would rather do without. I suppose there have always been these types of personalities, but this has never and will never be tolerated in this family. The Little Weed takes the time and effort to manually juice two oranges in order to get a cup of OJ because he feels it is worthwhile. I as a parent can spout whatever parental verbiage until my mouth runs dry, and without a positive outcome, but he must convince himself. Freshly squeezed OJ has done this for him. I do help him by washing the oranges and halving them, and cleaning up after, be he does the squeezing.
This is not to say that cartoned OJ does not have its place, as it clearly is popular with our family. Squeezing OJ takes time, which cannot be done in the morning. It is so convenient to open a carton and pour.
There is also a increased cost for fresh OJ. On sale, a 1.8L carton of OJ will cost ~$2.00CAD, or $1.10CAD/L. Our local Chinese grocery store sells a 5lb bag of Florida oranges for $3.00CAD or $0.60CAD per pound. One 5lb bag give us about 12 oranges, or 6 cups of squeezed OJ. One cup of squeezed OJ is about 200ml, so 6 cups gives us 1.2L, or $2.5CAD/L. Freshly squeezed OJ is therefore 2.3 times more expensive than cartoned OJ on sale, and you have to take the time and effort to squeeze it yourself. Cartoned OJ is clearly cheaper to serve. This week the 5 lb bag of oranges has increased to $3.60/bag, or $3CAD/litre. Cartoned or frozen OJ can be bought on sale and stored in a freezer for a long time, decreasing the overall unit cost per litre.
I recall working for a high level executive at a large Canadian bank, Jeff Chisholm, who asked for and received a large pitcher of freshly squeezed OJ each and every morning. At the time I found it excessive, but now I see the wisdom of his ways. That only took me a decade! Some lessons come slowly.
On our last trip to China, I also looked for OJ. They also had tetra pack OJ, but the taste was dreadful. It did not taste like OJ at all. I recall making such a judgmental thought and then reminding myself that I was in China and should be happy to find any non-toxic liquid that might proxy for OJ. I would not trust any packaging in China, so we taste and eat everything with some doubt as to its origins.
Links:
–Not so sweet: Even “100 percent pure” orange juice is artificially flavoured
–Frozen Orange Juice Grades in Canada
–Hating Old South Orange Juice New Packaging
–Purchasing Orange Juice for Your Family
