Fruit juice

Description

Juice is a drink made from the extraction or pressing of the natural liquid contained in fruit and vegetables. It can also refer to liquids that are flavored with concentrate or other biological food sources, such as meat or seafood, such as clam juice. Juice is commonly consumed as a beverage or used as an ingredient or flavoring in foods or other beverages, such as smoothies. Juice emerged as a popular beverage choice after the development of pasteurization methods enabled its preservation without using fermentation (which is used in wine production).^[1] The largest fruit juice consumers are New Zealand (nearly a cup, or 8 ounces, each day) and Colombia (more than three quarters of a cup each day). Fruit juice consumption on average increases with a country’s income level.^[2]

The word “juice” developed around the year 1300 from the Old French words jus, juis, jouis (“liquid obtained by boiling herbs”).^[3] The Old French jus (“juice, sap, liquid”) (13c.) came from Latin ius (“broth, sauce, juice, soup”), from the Proto-Indo-European root *yeue– (“to blend, mix food”) (cognates: Sanskrit yus “broth”, Greek zyme “a leaven”, Old Church Slavonic jucha “broth, soup”, Russian: уха ukha, Lithuanian: juse “fish soup”).^[3]

The use of the word “juice” to mean “the watery part of fruits or vegetables” was first recorded in the early 14th century.^[3] Since the 19th century, the term “juice” has also been used in a figurative sense (e.g., to mean alcohol or electricity).^[4] Today, “au jus” refers to meat served along with its own juice, commonly as a gravy.^{[citation needed]}

Groups of grape pits dated to 8000 BCE show early evidence of juice production, although it is thought that the grapes may have been alternatively used to produce wine.^[5] One of the first regularly produced juices was lemonade, which appeared in 16th-century Italy as an import after its conception in the Middle East. Orange juice originated in the 17th century. In the 18th century, James Lind linked citrus fruits to the prevention of scurvy, which, a century later, led to the implementation of the Merchant Shipping Act 1867, requiring all ocean-bound British ships to carry citrus-based juice on board.^[6]

In 1869, a dentist by the name of Thomas B. Welch developed a pasteurization method that allowed for the storage of juice without the juice fermenting into alcohol. His method involved filtering squeezed grape juice into bottles, sealing them with cork and wax, and then placing them in boiling water. This method kills the yeast responsible for fermentation. He then sold his new product as “Dr. Welch’s Unfermented Wine”.^[7] In the late 18th-century United States, the circulation of foreign fruit juices was heavily regulated by tariffs. The McKinley Tariff Act of 1890 increased import taxes from 38 to 49.5 percent and set taxes on fruit juices based on the alcohol content of the drink. Juices with 18% or less alcohol were taxed at 60 cents per gallon, while anything above 18% was taxed at US$2.50 per proof gallon