Why Orange Juice Tastes The Same Year-Round

If you buy your favorite brand of orange juice at the grocery store, it's always going to taste the same, no matter what. We take this consistency in food for granted, but just a minute of thinking will make you realize how unnatural this is. Any kind of fresh fruit or vegetable is going to be affected by so many variables across time and growing regions, from soil to rainfall to temperature. Even locally grown produce will vary by who grew it. How can orange juice taste the same 3,000 miles away from where it was grown at any time of year?

The first part of the answer isn't too surprising, which is that orange juice isn't as fresh as the companies making it would like you to think. Most orange juice these days is "not from concentrate" juice, which subtly suggests it's fresher than frozen orange juice concentrate. It's true this style of orange juice tastes closer to fresh than concentrate, but it's far from fresh-squeezed. Instead, it is made by pasteurizing orange juice to make sure it's safe to drink, and then its flavor is enhanced with so-called "flavor packets" made from orange oils and essence to ensure it stays tasty as long as it's on the shelf. Because the content of these flavor packs is controlled by manufacturers, each one can customize the taste profile they prefer. That's how popular orange juice brands like Tropicana or Minute Made can each maintain their distinct flavors year-round.

While keeping a product consistent across time is an obvious benefit to manufacturers, it's not the main reason orange juice is made this way. Instead, it's a way to maintain the juices' "fresh" taste after the preservation process. Orange juice isn't just pasteurized to kill bacteria. It also goes through a process called "deaeration," which removes oxygen. This is done to prevent the juice from spoiling during the long duration it spends in storage, which can be up to a year before it's packaged and shipped out. That process keeps it stable, but also strips the orange juice of its flavor. The flavor packs are then necessary to make the orange juice taste like anything at all.

However, the flavor packs are not artificial. The orange oils and essences they are made from escapes from oranges naturally during pasteurization and are captured by manufacturers. That is why you don't see any extra ingredients listed on your orange juice label. It all starts and ends as orange juice without anything being "added" to it. You might call that a loophole, but there is nothing chemical or fake about it. An attempt to sue Tropicana over false advertising for saying it was 100% natural was even dismissed in court. It's a strange, grey area where orange juice is processed, but still natural, and that process is why we have so much affordable orange juice year-round.