NUTS ABOUT FIBER?
CRUNCHY VANILLA
ALMOND IS A GOOD
SOURCE OF IT.word for Minute Maid every morning
on his CBS radio show. “Ken, what’s on
the shopping list for today?” he’d ask
his sidekick. “Well, it’s Minute Maid
fresh frozen orange juice, ladies,” Ken
would reply, “and your frozen food
store has it.” Sales went from $3 mil-
lion to $30 million in three short years!
Your attempts to preserve fresh OJ
without freezing also were cunning.
As juice loses its freshness, its sweet-
ness does a vanishing act—it literally
disappears as the juice turns bitter.
But your technologists had some-
thing up their own sleeves: additives
that approximate the taste of freshly
squeezed for that “not from concen-
trate” stuff in your fridge. Today Coca-
Cola, Minute Maid’s current owner,
has algorithms that analyze a quintil-
lion variables—that’s a one with 18
zeroes!—to optimize its juice’s flavor.
One last trick to close out the show,
friends. This whole time we’ve had
you riveted on our juicy segments,
distracting you from noticing ... the
citrus peels in our palms all along.
Now watch as we deftly squeeze
them to release a fine spray of oils.
Smell that? Those are our scents. En-
joy them by scraping our exterior or
squeezing a twist of skin into a cock-
tail. Honestly, ladies and gents, that’s
the zestiest bit of magic there is. RD
Kate Lowenstein is a health editor
currently at Vice; Daniel Gritzer is
the culinary director of the cooking
site Serious Eats.
The Food on Your Plate