So, does juicing really taste better than drinking the packaged juices at the store?
To answer this question, I decided to do a simple taste test.
I haven’t gone into the store and bought “kale-cucumber-tomato” juice before, but I’ve certainly had my share of store-bought orange juice. So it seemed to me that a great flavor test would be doing a little comparison between freshly squeezed and store bought OJ. One product, one flavor. Nowhere to hide.
I put three oranges into my juicer and away we went.
Test Results
If you love OJ and have never had it freshly squeezed, then I suggest you put away your computer and go buy a juicer right now. Now. Run, don’t walk.
Rather than spend $8/ glass at your nearby fancy brunch place, invest in a juicer and have this nectar available to you at any time. Freshly squeezed orange juice is…like something the juicing angels dropped down from heaven: naturally sweet, tangy, pulpy, and – weirdly – room temperature. As irrelevant as it might seem, all the orange juice that I’ve had in my day has been cold from the fridge (unless it is a juice box beverage like Capri-Sun…but let’s not go there). Perhaps similar to a red wine, the relative warmth of the juice opened all sorts of yummy flavors into my mouth.
In short: delicious.
The flat, perky taste of Tropicana simply cannot measure up against the effulgence of fresh orange juice. And if you do mostly savory juices like I do, the sugar kick is like a ray of internal sunshine.
I’m not sure about the comparison in nutritional content, but I’d wager the freshly squeezed outstrips the Tropicana. Either way, you’ll get a hefty whack of Vitamin C, A, Thiamin, and Potassium to start off your day.
Side hint:
I’ve developed a rather nasty habit of taking chlorella powder as a supplement. Chlorella itself is great; the nasty part is dissolving it into water and actually drinking it. (Tastes like lawn mower detritus. I hold my nose, swallow quickly, and drink more water before I dare to breathe again.) On the advice of a friend, I used some of my OJ as the solution for the powder and – presto – the unpleasant taste was almost completely obscured. Brilliant!
