The History of Orange Juice

In 1909, Florida orange growers met to discuss the overproduction of oranges in the state. Because the four varieties grown there worked well for juicing, they decided the solution would be to create a viable orange juice product. At the time, orange juice was only available in a can and was unpalatable to the general public, so people would typically juice fresh oranges themselves if they wanted orange juice. In the 1920s, the discovery of vitamins sparked an advertising campaign by orange interests, who pushed the fruits as a source of vitamin C. Baseless claims that oranges could cure acidosis, a disease which advertisements nebulously defined as a scare tactic, also resulted in increased overall consumption of oranges, although doctors soon pushed back on the false claims. Despite all of this, commercial orange juice remained relatively unpopular. Then during World War II, the U.S. Army began to search for a form of citrus that soldiers would actually consume rather than toss from their ration packs and a formal research program into palatable orange juice commenced. At first, researchers attempted to condense orange juice like milk, but the results were not good. Then they discovered that evaporating some of the water under pressure, then mixing a portion of fresh juice back into the concentrate and freezing it was a viable method of creating orange juice. The innovation came just as Florida orange growers were entering another cycle of overproduction, but this time, there was a solution — using the extra oranges to produce this new juice. The promise of a viable commercial orange juice prompted even more production; more orange trees than ever before were planted in the late 1940s to meet the anticipated demand. The resulting frozen concentrate orange juice became increasingly popular, especially after manufacturers began including “flavor packs” — oils and essences that could be added to old juice to give it a fresh taste. Eventually, this frozen orange juice morphed into the chilled orange juice that is widely available in supermarkets today. Despite several lawsuits over whether orange juice could be labelled as “natural,” it remained popular, as Americans had already become accustomed to the taste of the new juice product and had embraced it as a key part of breakfast. Today, packaged orange juice remains immensely popular. Interestingly, the consumption of true, fresh-squeezed orange juice is extremely rare.