Trader Joe's no-pulp orange juices

Nina was fighting a nasty cold, possibly influenza, and asked me to bring her some provisions--among them, orange juice. The only TJ's OJ I had bought previously was their frozen concentrate, which is just about the only way I've had orange juice all my life. Oh, sure, once in a while if I'm having breakfast at a restaurant and they offer fresh-squeezed, I'll have some, and it's the nectar of the gods. But the cost of non-concentrate juice and the difficulty of lugging home heavy jugs from the store have caused me to settle on frozen concentrate as good enough most of the time.

Nina's request, however, presented a nice opportunity to try a couple more TJ's products. When I looked over the options, I noticed that they offered two different no-pulp versions: one from concentrate, one not. There was a substantial difference in price: $1.99 versus $3.29. Would we be able to tell a difference in taste? And if so, would the difference be worth the extra cost? It is to answer precisely such questions that this blog exists, so I jumped at the opportunity.

Nina poured a glass of each juice for me, and I tried them without knowing which was which. One small taste of each was all it took; I was left with zero doubt about what I was drinking. The comparison test was only a contest in the same sense as it's a "contest" when one boxer comes out of his corner and knocks out the other with one punch. Here it took just one sip for the referee to whistle the end of the bout.

My palate is untrained and, I have to admit, a rather blunt, unsophisticated instrument. When I can instantly recognize a marked difference between two similar products, well, then they're not really very similar after all.

The from-concentrate juice tastes pretty much like what I've come to expect when I reconstitute my own. It's OK, but it's nothing to make you stand up and take notice.

The not-from-concentrate juice was superior in every way: richer, more complex, sweeter and yet with more citric tartness all at once.

As to the second question--is the better product worth 65% more? That's a much harder question.

This experiment has alerted me to a mental mistake I've been making my entire adult life. I have assumed, without ever checking, that I was saving money by buying frozen concentrate instead of having the manufacturer reconstitute the juice for me. I see now, however, that that assumption was false. TJ's frozen OJ concentrate costs $2.99 for a 12-ounce can, which makes 48 ounces of juice--about 6.2 cents per ounce. The not-from-concentrate product here costs just 5.1 cents per ounce, while the from-concentrate product is just 3.1 cents per ounce. So for decades I have been paying more for an inferior product. Of course, I haven't done a direct taste comparison of the frozen versus fresh. I probably should.

I would certainly be willing to lug the carton home to get better juice at a lower cost. On the other hand, since I'm already used to reconstituted juice, maybe I'll go for the cheapest option of all, with the from-concentrate version. I'm not sure yet.

Will I buy it again? 

I'm still pondering that. But I might be on the verge of changing a lifelong habit here.