Fresh squeezed

I heard a story on NPR this week about commercial orange juice. According to the report, after the oranges are squeezed, the juice is stored in million-gallon holding tanks and the oxygen is removed, which allows the liquid to keep for up to a year without spoiling. It also makes the juice completely flavorless so the industry uses "flavor packs" to re-flavor the juice.

This story has been weighing on my mind. It makes the 100% freshly squeezed juice from Kroger seem not very fresh to me.

I don't usually keep commercial orange juice in my refrigerator because I don't think it is really all that healthy. But Jack likes it, especially the kind with lots of pulp in it.

Since Jack was visiting today, I decided to make my own fresh squeezed juice. Last week, Ed had brought home from his fishing trip a huge sack of oranges and grapefruits that he had picked on the Juniper Club property. I pulled out the glass juicer that was my grandmother's, sliced a handful of oranges in half and started rotating the half-rounds against the glass mound in the center of the juicer. I then fished out any seeds and poured the juice into a canning jar.

I'll send it home with Jack. So tomorrow morning he can wake up to truly fresh-squeezed sunshine.