Don't be silly --- it means you are buying juice from oranges that has been stripped of all flavor, stored in tankers for a year or two, and then reconstituted by adding "flavor packs" built by recombining the chemicals found in different oranges. Pretending this isn't clear to consumers is just anti-progress.

Along those lines, the book "Squeezed" is pretty good, and details the argument of the Tropicana lawyers who actually make this argument. Here's a New Yorker article about it: https://www.newyorker.com/books/page-turner/ask-an-academic-....

;-)

I do highly recommend Hamilton's Squeezed book for a more detailed expose. It's available from libraries, both physical and online. It's not for everyone, but if you care a lot about food regulation and the way that producers get around the law to deceive consumers, it's great.

After some time not drinking it, orange juice is almost sickeningly sweet to me.

I mean we have our apple juice like that; it's cheap and a crowd pleaser, but it's not the same as fresh juice.

Economies of scale though. I wouldn't be surprised if concentrate is 100x as efficient in transport than the equivalent in juice oranges would be.

Reminds me of "ice cream" which, in a lot of cases, is not. Mixed in the ice cream section next to identical looking cartons of different flavors Breuer's is a big culprit) are things that say "whipped dairy dessert" in the place that others say "ice cream".

With orange juice... not sure. There's long been the distinction between "from concentrate" and "not from concentrate", but both were still considered actual orange.

This does lead me to an interesting question, that being whether one could make orange juice from frozen concentrate that is 'better' than store bought and reconstituted at a factory

You're right to be suspicious; most juices are not just "freshly squeezed" from a fruit - they're processed.

Part of the "process" is to actually extract the sweetest part of the juice and leave the rest behind (so way more sugary than "natural") and some will actually contain some other forms of filler (like non-orange based oils).

It's a lot like McNuggets or Subway chicken sandwiches - they're made "from real chicken" but with all of added the salt and fillers, you end up wondering exactly how much of it is actual chicken.

One of the best way to evaluate "real juice" is by how long it'll last before it expires (either shelf life or after opening) - more than a few days will indicate there's extra preservatives, etc. in it.

I've accidentally bought what I thought was fruit juice more than one time, and learned my lesson about reading the label. Many people might not ever bother.

In my country, there are also concentrated 'orange squash' drinks which have some real fruit, and also some flavouring and sweeteners.

They taste different to pure orange juice, they're substantially cheaper and they have very low sugar/calorie content.

It seems like a healthier choice, due to higher bulk of fruit purée versus standard jam on toast (which I assume has more sugar).