AN apple a day may keep the doctor away but two glasses of orange juice a day will chase stress hormones away. As more studies reveal the benefits of orange juice or OJ, more and more people are adding this zesty, delicious fruit drink to their daily diet.
Apart from being able to pull you out of a funk, orange juice is also known to help maintain blood pressure levels, boost the immune system and prevent ailments such as cancer, ulcer and kidney stones.
While the health benefits are clear, there are also beauty benefits associated with vitamin C, and orange juice has helped people achieve beautiful skin and lose excess weight.
Most people agree that orange is one of the more zestful choices of juices that can be bought easily from any retailer, big or small.
In the old days, fresh orange juice was only possible for those who could get fresh oranges from the market or who lived near an orchard.
With the help of technology, we are now able to enjoy fruit juice on a daily basis. There are a few types of orange juices offered in the market and each goes through different production processes.
Frozen concentrated orange juice is pasteurised and filtered before being evaporated under vacuum and heat for water removal. Pasteurisation eliminates germs, typically by using high temperature and then immediately cooling the juice before it is bottled.
Orange juice labelled as “not from concentrate” involves placing the squeezed juice in a sterile, oxygen-free storage area. The process enables food producers to offer the fresh juice without preservatives, as long as its packaging remains intact. Orange juice preserved this way can last for about a year inside the aseptic storage, so consumers can even get juices when the fruit is not in season. One can find this type of orange juice in the chilled section of the supermarket.
Another product is canned orange juice. Canning has been known to retain vitamin C in orange juice much better than its bottled counterparts. When coupled with a flash pasteurisation process, the metallic taste that the juice tends to acquire after being stored at room temperature is decreased.
The flash pasteurisation technology was developed by Dr Philip Phillips, a citrus magnate who, at one point, had 2,023 hectares of citrus groves to his name!
Compared with regular pasteurisation, flash pasteurisation technology can maintain a food item’s colour and flavour. Also called “high-temperature short time” (HTST) processing, this technology is commonly used together with the sterile fill technology to ensure no contamination takes place after the pasteurisation process. An early adopter of this technology is Tropicana Products, which has used the method since the 1950s.
The best kind of orange juice is undoubtedly freshly squeezed and unpasteurised. If you don’t have a local juicer or fresh juice retailer nearby, the next best option is to buy a bag of oranges, keep them in the refrigerator and squeeze them when you’re craving for a drink. It may seem like a hassle but, for health and flavour, the extra work will be well worth it.