Apple juice

A glass of clear apple juice, from which pectin and starch have been removed.

Apple juice is the fruit juice product manufactured from the pressing of apples.

Production

Apple juice is produced by the crushing of apples, and then filtered extraction of the clear juice. It is usually then pasteurized.

Due to the heavy equipment required to extract juice from an apple, apple juice is almost always commercially produced as opposed to the juices from easily juiced fruits such as oranges or lemons, unlike apple cider, millions of gallons of which are produced by small and large farms and mom and pop-type businesses in the United States. Normal apple juice is one of the most commonly used fruit juices in the world, with the majority of its production occurring in the United States and China.

Apple juice concentrate is produced by evaporating fresh apple juice that is extracted from fresh apples. Fresh apple juice has a concentration of around 11 to 13 brix. Evaporating the fresh juice reduces packaging volume and shipping costs. The high concentration also helps reduce spoilage of the product.

There are two types of apple juice concentrate, clear apple juice concentrate and cloudy apple juice concentrate. Pectin and starch are removed during the production process to produce clear apple juice concentrate. Cloudy apple juice concentrate's appearance arises as a result of evenly-distributed small pulp suspensions in the juice concentrate.

Uses

Apple juice is a common beverage both for children and for adults, but in North America, apple juice often is marketed specifically to children, who are informally considered its major consumers. Apple juice is also a component of several cocktails; it is also used as a filler in some drinks, because it is less expensive and more widely available than most other juices. It may also be produced and consumed in a carbonated form, referred to as sparkling apple juice.

Health benefits

Apple juice has a significant concentration of phenolics thought to help protect from many diseases associated with aging, including heart disease and cancer. Aside from other obvious fruit vitamins like vitamin C, apple juice also contains the mineral nutrient boron, which is thought to promote healthy bones.

Apple cider

Main article: apple cider

While "apple juice" generally refers to the filtered, pasteurized product of apple pressing, an unfiltered, sometimes unpasteurized product of apple pressing, commonly known as apple cider in the United States and parts of Canada, is packaged and sold as "apple juice" in some places. In the U.S., there is no legal distinction between filtered apple juice and apple cider.[1]

See also

• Apple cider
• Cider (the alcoholic beverage known in the U.S. as hard cider)