Store-Bought Juice Is Trash: On Applejuiceification

This week’s food internet scandal involved a Twitter thread of different store-bought juice nutrition labels. All of the labels, regardless of the type of juice described on the front of the packaging, contained large percentages of apple juice, despite the fact that none of them were actually labeled “apple juice.” This phenomenon was described by the poster as “applejuiceification.”

Twitter was predictably scandalized. Who could’ve guessed that corporate food manufacturers would ever try to deceive us, their loyal customers? Well, actually, anyone who’s paying attention.

Most food companies—and companies in general—are going to do whatever they can to reduce their costs, and in the juice world, that means cutting the juice of more expensive fruits with cheap, sweet and readily available apple juice. Unlike the juice of blueberries or pomegranates, for example, apple juice is relatively inexpensive, so by filling up a bottle with mostly apple juice and supplementing it with juices from other, more delicious fruits, juice companies can sell glorified apple juice at a premium price, boosting their profits in the process.

Apple juice is also a solid candidate for this cost-cutting strategy because it’s widely appealing and has a sweet flavor that can mask the acidity of other types of fruit. Many consumers are familiar with apple juice, which has a sweet but nondescript flavor profile, so it’s not a stretch to assume they’d like apple juice mixed with small portions of other types of fruit. Take a look at the juice section at your local grocery store, and you’ll see that quite a few, if not most, of the juices available contain a large portion of apple juice.

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Of course, if you like the way these juices taste and you don’t mind paying a premium for them, go ahead and drink them to your heart’s content. Nobody’s going to stop you. But for those who feel cheated by this revelation, it’s time to admit to yourself that store-bought juice is and always has been trash.

In most cases, fruit juice has been stripped of all its fiber, which means that you’re getting fewer health benefits from just drinking the liquid than you would from eating the fruit it came from. When it comes to fresh juice made from just-squeezed fruit, that may not bother you because the flavor is so delicious. But store-bought juices tend to be too thin in texture and too sweet on the flavor front—what’s the point of drinking a beverage that’s just one step away from being considered a soft drink and that doesn’t even taste like the fruit it supposedly contains?

Applejuiceification is largely responsible for the bland, uninteresting flavors of most commercial juices on the market, although the addition of preservatives certainly doesn’t help either. But regardless of what ingredient is to blame, we have to say it: Store-bought juice isn’t good, whether it contains a high percentage of apple juice or not.

If you’re currently drinking juice to get more nutrients into your diet, you should probably just stick to eating whole fruits anyway. When you eat actual fruit, you’re getting lots of fiber into your diet, which helps you feel full and satiated in a way that fruit juice never will. And if you’re just the kind of person who enjoys drinking juice once in a while, you may want to invest in your own juicer so you can make juice at home. By making your own, you get to control exactly what goes into your bottle, so you can omit the apple juice if that’s not actually what you’re craving.

Whether you plan to make changes to your juice routine or not, make sure to check the ingredient label the next time you think about buying a bottle of juice from the store. What you find might just surprise you.

Samantha Maxwell is a food writer and editor based in Boston. Follow her on Twitter at @samseating.