Neither option tastes anything like what it’s supposed to taste like, to me.

The process of making concentrate loses most of the aroma, which is then added back using perfumes which are derived from oranges. Because the perfumes are made from oranges, using certain techniques, they do not have to be listed as separate ingredients, and the can will just say “orange” in the ingredient list. One fundamental problem is that natural orange juice goes bitter when exposed to air, and that problem isn’t solved by concentrating it… because you won’t drink it all right after reconstituting it.

If you compare FCOJ to fresh-squeezed, the difference is not subtle. It’s incredibly obvious. It doesn’t even matter what type of orange you use for juicing—try them all.

>Neither option tastes anything like what it’s supposed to taste like, to me.

That's because the not from concentrate is mostly bullshit. They store the juice for up to a year and preserve it by deoxygenating the giant storage containers. That destroys most of the flavor and so they add in artificial flavor packs rendering the end product an orange flavored beverage instead of juice.

From concentrate is actually better. That's 100% from an orange. You lose flavor from the solidification process but the end result is all from the orange.

> You lose flavor from the solidification process but the end result is all from the orange.

"All from the orange" is a clever conceit. It's a processed food product. If you get Minute Maid, it incorporates a flavor pack created by Coca-Cola. It's not listed in the ingredients because the flavor pack is made from orange.

Unless I've been grossly misinformed those aren't added to the concentrate.

> If you compare FCOJ to fresh-squeezed, the difference is not subtle. It’s incredibly obvious. It doesn’t even matter what type of orange you use for juicing—try them all.

Completely agree and it’s so much better at least to me.

I’d even go as far to say that many people who are used to drinking the concentrate or shelf stable stuff have no idea how much different fresh squeezed OJ tastes. To the point where it’s surprising and in some cases not to their taste because they are so used to the processed stuff.

I’m from Florida. You’re crazy. Both are equally bad. If you want fresh orange juice, buy Florida oranges and squeeze the juice yourself. They aren’t very good for eating though. For that you want California navels.

(Florida’s true delicacies are the keylime and the stone crab. I’ve never gotten a keylime in a grocery store that comes close to what grows on the trees in the state. And stone crab you’ll never find in a grocery.)

I had no idea there was a difference between the oranges. What I know about is apples, growing up near a lot of apple farms. It's probably not worth trying to compare our niche insight, though.

Stone Crab claws are one of the greatest seafoods in the US. But due to the way they are harvested (single claw snapped off and the rest of the crab thrown back), you have to eat them immediately so no shipping.

Wiki:

> Harvesting is accomplished by removing one or both claws from the live animal and returning it to the ocean where it can regrow the lost limb(s).

Incredible ... sounded so wasteful at first to not eat the body.

Plenty of stores offer freshly squeezed orange juice nowadays. Some have the machine that will do it right in front of you.

I like eating the concentrated stuff semi-frozen, tastes better than most sorbets imo.