Orange Juice Options For Canadians

johnsmith

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How do the Canadians around here take their orange juice? We have different brands up here and our produce is pretty low quality.

1. Is home made fresh squeezed orange juice the best bang for your buck nutrition wise? If so, what tool do you use to squeeze the juice out with? What kinds of oranges are best?

2. Is orange juice from concentrate better then nothing? If so, whats brands do you like?
 
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mrchibbs

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How do the Canadians around here take their orange juice? We have different brands up here and our produce is pretty low quality.

1. Is home made fresh squeezed orange juice the best bang for your buck nutrition wise? If so, what tool do you use to squeeze the juice out with? What kinds of oranges are best?

2. Is orange juice from concentrate better then nothing? If so, whats brands do you like?

Orange juice in Canada is mostly sour, even from fresh pressed oranges. If it's not sweet it's not worth it in my opinion.
Get good quality concentrate, without enzymes or additives (Orange juices with/without flavor packs and pulp-dissolving enzymes - Toxinless)
and go with it. Oasis organic would be ok it seems.

Here in Quebec, we've had some very sweet, high quality apple juice for the past couple of years. I've done better with that. The only time I do well with fresh oranges here is during high summer.
 

jzeno

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Sharing this for those who haven't seen it.

Orange juices with/without flavor packs and pulp-dissolving enzymes - Toxinless

Site is ran by a guy on this board.

You may find a good option from that list or at least it may point you in the right direction.

I can't comment on concentrate oj. I don't have any experience nor have I read anything by Ray Peat on it.

I buy a bag of oranges and try to squeeze a few every now and again.

All the best in your search.
 

rebuke

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I drank Oasis, which seemed better then the rest. The rest were intolerable, really poor stuff. I found a good quality OJ at the Co-op, a big grocer in Western Canada. Oasis is good enough imo, try tapping into your local markets.
 

SneezeStar

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I regularly drink Presidents choice organic not from concentrate pulp free. Grocery stores do fresh squuezed in house, sobeys, zehres, whole foods. It is very good in summer, very sweet, i checked the brix aka sugar levels in the lab at work, 15 to 16 brix so 150 to 160 grams of sugar per litre.
 

YourUniverse

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I regularly drink Presidents choice organic not from concentrate pulp free. Grocery stores do fresh squuezed in house, sobeys, zehres, whole foods. It is very good in summer, very sweet, i checked the brix aka sugar levels in the lab at work, 15 to 16 brix so 150 to 160 grams of sugar per litre.

Is the PC organic > PC regular? The regular is decently sweet, but I'm sure it could be improved upon. I'll try Oasis as per @rebuke
 

Inaut

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The best orange juice I have found is called Natalie’s OJ from Florida. Tasty but a little on the expensive side.... The PC Organic orange juice is also a good alternative imo but it’s expensive.

Tbh now I’ve become accustomed to the pulp free orange juice from Irresistables (metro and food basics sell it). If I could afford it though, it would be freshly squeezed or Natalie’s all the way.

Thanks for creating this thread OP as I’ve always wondered what Canadians are drinking. I’ve heard Kirkland (Costco) brand is good but never been able to find it at Costco....
 

mrchibbs

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Oasis Premium seems to make me feel good enough. Very different feel from Tropicana.

According to Dan @ Toxinless, Lassonde Oasis don't use flavour packs or enzymes but a Marketplace episode from 2015 (CBC consumer report show) seemed to suggest that Oasis did use some flavour packs. I might email Lassonde myself to make sure the story isn't different in the U.S. vs. Canada.
 

DrJ

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@johnsmith After trying many orange juices from concentrate and those not from concentrate, I've sort of reasoned this: Not-from-concentrate OJ is almost always pretty bitter no matter what brand I try. I suspect that to get it 'fresh' not-from-concentrate, they just harvest them regardless of ripeness. However, from-concentrate OJ seems to usually be pretty sweet. I think this makes sense since they probably make all the concentrate at the peak of the season when all of the oranges are ripe and they have to do something with the overload of ready oranges before they go bad (so make concentrate). So I prefer to get OJ from concentrate as it's sweeter. Bonus: it's also much cheaper. Just my 2 cents. But also recommend checking Dan's site to avoid the flavor pack stuff if you're getting OJ from concentrate.
 

Inaut

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@DrJ which brand of concentrate do you buy? I’d like to find a cheaper, more consistent/tasty brand of OJ.

Thanks
 

Jib

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Do you guys have pineapple juice readily available? Whether fresh or from concentrate, I prefer it heavily to orange juice and personally, seem to respond better to it.
 

Jib

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I wonder if the lower potassium in pineapple juice is one reason I tolerate it better. OJ has a tendency of making me feel washed out/tired if I have it apart from a meal, not just because of the obvious water content, but I think the potassium as well. I didn't know until you shared that link that it had less potassium. I can tolerate pineapple juice apart from meals pretty well.

I've never tried sugar apples before. They look pretty amazing. A native fruit around here is Paw-Paws, which you can't even buy anywhere here, but I've had friends that have grown them and they're awesome.

Pineapple juice is also high in manganese.

I forgot about the baking soda trick. That helps create a more favorable electrolyte balance while also making the juice more enamel-friendly. Not to mention the little bit of CO2 you'll get as well.
 

gaze

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Orange juice in Canada is mostly sour, even from fresh pressed oranges. If it's not sweet it's not worth it in my opinion.
Get good quality concentrate, without enzymes or additives (Orange juices with/without flavor packs and pulp-dissolving enzymes - Toxinless)
and go with it. Oasis organic would be ok it seems.

Here in Quebec, we've had some very sweet, high quality apple juice for the past couple of years. I've done better with that. The only time I do well with fresh oranges here is during high summer.

I’m traveling down to quebec in a few weeks. any tips on what stores to find good quality milk/fruit? any good food spots would be awesome also
 

mrchibbs

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I’m traveling down to quebec in a few weeks. any tips on what stores to find good quality milk/fruit? any good food spots would be awesome also

Good question! It depends where you'll be. There's an organic store chain in the Montreal Area named TAU. They usually have good grass-fed organic milk, fresh organic fruits and frozen liver, stuff like that. As far as eating out, there's so many restaurants. I would try the classic Smoked Meat maybe? Schwartz is a tourist nightmare, Lester's in Outremont is a real nice place to eat an authentic smoked meat. With a coke, it's a real nice meal.
 

gaze

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Good question! It depends where you'll be. There's an organic store chain in the Montreal Area named TAU. They usually have good grass-fed organic milk, fresh organic fruits and frozen liver, stuff like that. As far as eating out, there's so many restaurants. I would try the classic Smoked Meat maybe? Schwartz is a tourist nightmare, Lester's in Outremont is a real nice place to eat an authentic smoked meat. With a coke, it's a real nice meal.

Awesome, thank you. I meant to be more specific in my post by writing quebec city, although I’m also going to montreal. From what I understand, the bread in canada is fortified with iron like America? Are low fat milks also fortified with A and D? Lastly, is Canada as big on vegetable oil like America in restaurants, or do many of them still use the traditional butter, olive oil, etc. Thanks!
 

retroactive

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Two grocery stores near me, Remark and Sunripe, have actual fresh squeezed orange juice. The Remark product seems much higher quality though. I strain it through a metal stainer to remove the pulp
 
OP
J

johnsmith

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I've been drinking Oasis Premium juice for over a year now. It tastes quite watered down so I've been adding 7 table spoons of sugar to each bottle so that it feels like I'm at least getting a substantial amount of carbs from it, and not just mediocre watered down juice. I've also been adding baking soda to each bottle in the hopes that it makes the juice easier on my teeth.

Question: Do any Canadians use a juice press to make their own fresh juice? Or would investing in a juice press be a laughable thing to do, due to the low quality and over priced produce that we have access too up here.

@DrJ, what brand of concentrate orange juice have you been drinking? It would be nice if there was a decent brand of concentrated orange that we had access too.
 

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