Page 70 - Fall2013

All Thumbs Book Reviews

orange juice (close your eyes and you probably “orange juice” greeting one at the breakfast table.
can recall the straw coming out of an orange Not unlike the dairy farmers of recent past,
depicted on the packaging), but how inconvenient Florida orange growers are finding it more profit-
it was simply to peel an orange. able to sell their land to condominium developers
In fact, commercial orange juice is very high than try to compete against global competitive
in sugar, contains less vitamin C than an actual forces. Unless it is springtime in Florida, the odds
orange, and is low in fiber and other nutrients. are that you are drinking, at least in part, orange
Prior to the early 1900s, before the Florida orange juice that comes from Brazil in cargo ships that
growers organized and launched a campaign to have the capacity to aseptically store seven mil-
market their surplus crop, the only people who lion gallons.
drank orange juice were Floridians who had a While this book is very informative, it
tree in their backyard! dedicates a disproportionate amount of pages to
Hamilton also details just how orange juice a unique 1961 FDA hearing, “Matter of Orange
is stored for up to one year in tank farms: pasteur- Juice and Orange Juice Products; Definitions
ized, deoiled, sterilized, deaerated, loaded into and Standards of Identity.” On the other hand,
aseptic tanks, then later brought out, blended for those who are industry and policy junkies
with flavor packs, and reheated. Refined orange this section is perhaps one of the more insight-
oil and orange essence are added to simulate ful descriptions into the inner workings of the
"freshness." system.
The actual constitution of a “flavor pack” In the end, Squeezed does not particularly
involves a great deal of chemistry and has noth- focus on the health aspects of orange juice, or
ing to do with the sun-kissed citrus plucked in whether or not orange juice is good for you, but
full ripeness from a tree that marketers would rather on how long the industry has been mis-
conjure in your imagination, and instead has ev- leading consumers about the authenticity of its
erything to do with a chemist’s lab. These “flavor product, and their indifference to a food product
packs” are manufactured by chemical fragrance that has become so ubiqituous in the American
companies and are necessary to return flavor and diet.
aroma into the inert product since the original Review by Bill Hory
Odds are taste and aroma were destroyed in storage and
that you are processing. These flavor packs do not even have
drinking to be derived from Florida oranges; the extracts
can come from countries using banned pesti-
orange juice cides, for example. Orange oil is fractionated into
that comes several components, each of which is isolated, JOurnal nOW availaBle as
from Brazil in and then recombined in different proportions Digital talking BOOk
when added to the “juice.” Chemicals such as fOr the visually impaireD
cargo ships ethyl butyrate, the most frequently used artificial
We now have our journal converted
that have the orange flavoring and perfumery solvent, is very into an audio format available for the visually
capacity to commonly added. These flavor packs are labelled impaired. special software is required for this,
under “natural and/or artificial flavors.” such as Dolphin easy reader. go to the JOur-
aseptically Just reading the descriptions of these nals tab on our homepage. starting with fall
store seven manufacturing techniques should destroy the 2011, click the journal you are interested in.
million gallons. innocence of the average orange juice consumer please tell others! many thanks to amy adams
and alter forever the way one looks at a glass of of epubusa.com for this service!
68 Wise Traditions FALL 2013 FALL 2013 Wise Traditions

123816_text.indd 68 9/20/13 1:00 AM