Bolthouse Farms Juice
My eyes usually glaze over at the juice section of supermarkets. I normally drink only water, organic milk and energy drinks. For variety, I order pomegranate and orange juices when I have groceries delivered, which is not often.
But recently I was taking in the landscape of a Korean supermarket I was visiting for the first time when my eyes landed on a row of Bolthouse Farms juices. The bottle packaging was attractive!
I like pretty things which is why I was disappointed at the Tropicana redesign of its boxes, which I would be embarrassed to have people see in my fridge or pouring juice out of. (Pepsico has since reverted to its previous design.) But a Bolthouse Farms bottle I would be proud to have in my hand.
So I took a closer look at the label of one variant. It said PASSION FRUIT (then in slightly smaller print) APPLE CARROT JUICE FROM CONCENTRATE. Uh-oh, I don’t like the word concentrate. I looked at the ingredients list on the back.
INGREDIENTS: CARROT JUICE FROM CONCENTRATE (WATER, CARROT JUICE CONCENTRATE), APPLE JUICE FROM CONCENTRATE (WATER, APPLE JUICE CONCENTRATE), PASSION FRUIT JUICE FROM CONCENTRATE (WATER, PASSION FRUIT JUICE CONCENTRATE) AND NATURAL FLAVORS.
That meant there was more carrot and apple than passion fruit. The “natural flavors” I was a bit wary of, but the bottle was really cool ~ Plus, it was only 1 Liter (33.8 fluid ounces = a quart and 1.8 fluid ounces), which would be easy for me to carry home with the rest of my groceries. So I bought it.
Back home, I eagerly twisted the cap off and looked forward to a glugging experience, which is how I drink most fluids. Glug-glug-glug two cups down my throat. But this juice was different. It was… mmm, heavy and dense. I felt my stomach could barely take in a glass before it said enough. The taste was good… healthy, none of the artificial sweetness that characterizes most American juices.
Yet I was very surprised at my inability to glug down juice. I didn’t know whether to like it or not initially. But then I convinced myself that it was truly a good thing that the juice itself was limiting my intake of it.
Each 1-liter bottle contains 4 servings of eight fluid ounces (240 mL) each. I compared the nutritional information on the bottle with what they provide on their website. The bottle says Vitamin A 365% while their site says Vitamin A 700%. That’s not a dealbreaker to me. The packaging also looks slightly different on their site so it could be the data they posted are outdated. What’s indisputable is that this a healthy drink.
MORE FROM THE LABEL: 100% JUICE. Flash pasteurized and cold-filled for quality. Perishable. Keep Refrigerated. SHAKE WELL. Settling is natural. All Bolthouse Farms juices are made from the highest quality 100% natural ingredients. Our passion fruit flavored juice is a tropical blend made from the juice of passion fruit, sweet apples and healthy carrots. Its refreshing, mouth-watering flavor is unlike any you’ve ever tried.
Looking at the pretty bottle uplifts my spirits and the juice itself is healthful. I like it and am looking forward to trying other juice combinations from Bolthouse Farms. $3.79 at HK Super plus 10 cents CRV.
