There’s more to the orange juice that we all know and love, than what meets the eye.
Oranges originally came from Asia, and was brought to the Mediterranean during the 13th century. They were first used in medicine, then grown for consumption, and by the 1500’s were found in South America and Mexico.
There are around 12 varieties of oranges, grown in places such as the U.S., Brazil, South Africa, and the Mediterranean. The orange tree grows in subtropical climates, may reach a height of 25ft and has compound leaves up to 6in long. The outer rind (epicarp) is orange or yellow when ripe, while the inner rind (mesocarp) is white, spongy and non-aromatic. The pulp (endocarp) consists of juice sacs enclosed in 10 to 14 wedge-shaped compartments which are separated as individual segments; in each segment there may be 2 to 4 white-colored irregular seeds, though some types of oranges are seedless.
Low soil temperatures in citrus plants cause low root temperatures, leading to foliage wilt; the optimum temperature for root growth is 79F and 54F at the lowest. Soils should also be well drained, as trees grow best with an annual precipitation of 5–20in. Common pests that affect orange and other citrus fruits are rust mites, mealybugs, aphids and scale insects. They may cause blemishing on the outside of the fruit, and sometimes even smaller fruits, premature falling, leaf curling and leaf shedding. However, parasitic fungi and wasps control the mites and scales, and chemicals and pheromone trapping may be used to control those pest species that do not have a biological control agent. Orange trees are also susceptible to blight and fungal diseases including C. citri-grisea, which causes spotting on the foliage and subsequent defoliation.
Primary Production
Today, oranges are still grown for human consumption and harvested for their juice. There are various varieties of oranges being produced, with 81% coming from São Paulo, Brazil and Florida, USA. Brazil consumes very little of their production, making them by far the world’s largest exporter of orange juice.
Oranges grow on trees that require 5–15 years to mature; the variations in planting decisions do not directly influence the coming year’s crop yield but are felt much later. This mono-cultured environment makes controlling pests and diseases more manageable, even though weather plays a major role in the growth of success in these orange crops.
Post-Harvest Production
Once the oranges are ripe they are ready to be harvested. Nowadays this is done by specialized tractors with a continuous canopy shaker that shake the oranges from their stalk into a truck, which then moves the whole oranges to a processing plant. To begin, the oranges are washed out of the truck onto conveyor belts to be graded and separated by size. Machines extract the juice; splitting the juice, pith and peel. As there are some juices that do not contain pith, the pith is re-added to some of the juice.
Many distributors find it easier for consumers to have fruit concentrate that they have reconstituted by adding water. This process is slightly different to the original process of making general fresh orange juice. Once the juice has been squeezed it is then heated to stop the natural enzymes from functioning to keep quality in the juice. To get the juice to a concentrate it is placed into a high vacuum evaporator, which causes the water to be evaporated, leaving the juice solids and sugars as the concentrate. This concentrate is then frozen and stored until it is needed. Once the frozen concentrate is shipped to the location, there is some fresh juice and water to be placed in with the concentrate to get almost the same flavor as the freshly squeezed juice, with the added advantage of lasting longer in transport.
Now the juice is ready for transportation; the Citrus Associates of the New York Cotton Exchange began trading in the early 1970’s. As orange juice is a highly valued traded commodity, selling refrigerated juices and drinks increased sales rapidly in a short amount of time.
Learn more about orange juice projection in part 2 of this post, where we will cover transport, final processing, packaging, and more!
