100% cranberry/grapefruit juice is where?

October 16, 2007 2:57 PM

Real-food addict seeks cranberry (or grapefruit) juice that's made from cranberries (or grapefruit), not from m*!@erf$ing corn syrup.

There are various reasons a fella might want juice made from juice and not that obnoxious juice-tinted corn-syrup slop: Because high-fructose corn syrup is pretty unhealthy, because voting with his dollar just might help U.S. agriculture to end its runaway cornocentrism, because he's a snob and a purist. And I kind of have all of these reasons. But mostly it's just that corn syrup tastes gross, whereas cranberries and grapefruit each have a bracing edge that I crave.

Unfortunately, nearly every store I've been to has let me down: No pure juice of either sort, not even from reputable brands (including some that I know make it pure, like Ocean Spray), not even if those reputable brands have 100% juice from other fruits sitting right alongside, not even if I'm willing to settle for an adulterating admixture of any other juice, just so long as it's juice and not co-or-or-or-orn! (/me sobs several times, regains composure) Anything with cranberries in it is corn-syrup cocktail, and lately so is anything with grapefruit. Even my reliable source of grapefruit in half-gallon cans has sold out to the cornmongers.

So if you've seen cornless cranberry or grapefruit juice lately, especially pure, please name the brand and the store. Widely distributed brands and non-evil chain stores would be more useful, especially if found west of the Rockies and most especially if found in Utah Valley. Mail-order might even do the job. Citing a price would be really awesome.

posted by eritain to food & drink (30 comments total)

Trader Joe's Cranberry Juice
posted by Asherah at 3:05 PM on October 16, 2007

In googling for "pure cranberry juice", I found this site which says they have products in these places (in proximity to Provo).

Have you tried health food stores and not just grocery stores?
posted by mckenney at 3:05 PM on October 16, 2007

So you want unsweetened such as Lakewood which I see all the time in Whole Foods or similar stores or juice sweetened by some means other than corn syrup such as Northland (sweetened with other juices)
posted by otherwordlyglow at 3:06 PM on October 16, 2007

But beware, unsweetened cranberry juice is pretty intense.
posted by otherwordlyglow at 3:07 PM on October 16, 2007

I see Knudsen's sweetened-with-other-juice no-corn cranberry juice in the stores all the time here in Seattleish. Fred Meyer's, Top Foods, and PCC all sell it.
posted by The corpse in the library at 3:16 PM on October 16, 2007

I don't know if you can juice fresh cranberries, but you can certainly juice fresh grapefruit yourself and it'll taste ten times better than anything you can buy that's been canned or bottled. I do it a lot and compost the peels.
posted by Camofrog at 3:18 PM on October 16, 2007

Camofrog, you might want to do something else with those peels. (Sorry for the derail.)
posted by danblaker at 3:27 PM on October 16, 2007

I've never had problems finding Cranberry juice that's been sweetened with other juices instead of HFCS. Every single grocery store I've been to has at least Ocean Spray 100% Juice in both Cranberry and Grapefruit varieties. Ocean Spray also has 100% unsweetened cranberry juice but it's a bit harder to find (I'm guessing not many buy it as it's extremely tart).

Here's something to know to help you find something quickly on the shelf without having to look at each tiny ingredient list: it says "Cocktail", "Drink", or "Juice Drink" on the bottle, it's got HFCS in it. If it just says "Juice," it will probably be 100% juice.
posted by zsazsa at 3:29 PM on October 16, 2007

Knudsen's-- great; Lakewood-- thrice great.
posted by jamjam at 3:29 PM on October 16, 2007

>>There are various reasons ...
Also, cranberry juice can help with bladder or urinary tract infections
http://www.pitt.edu/~cjm6/s99cranberry.html
posted by allelopath at 3:37 PM on October 16, 2007

Odwalla grapefruit juice is all juice, no corn (or apple, or anything else). I bought a jug at Safeway about 20 minutes ago (which is where I usually buy it), where they have a special separate-from-the-other-juices refrigerated case near the produce section. It ain't cheap, but it's good. It's also available at Whole Foods.
posted by rtha at 3:44 PM on October 16, 2007

Every single grocery store I've been to has at least Ocean Spray 100% Juice.

Keep in mind that even "cranberry juice" labeled "100% Juice!" is probably a small fraction cranberry juice and a big fraction white grape or apple juice. Not a bad deal if you're just looking for a healthier alternative than corn syrup, but something to keep in mind.
posted by almostmanda at 4:32 PM on October 16, 2007

I don't buy grapefruit juice. I buy grapefruit and juice them. I get one small glass out of a biggish grapefruit.
posted by i_am_joe's_spleen at 4:35 PM on October 16, 2007

I buy Langers 100 cranberry at the local regular ol' supermarket. (Beware, the regular Langers juices use HFCS now.)
posted by desuetude at 4:36 PM on October 16, 2007

Wow, where are you located? I find it amazing, in my world of giant supermarkets, that there's no juice without corn syrup added.

Again, if your regular market doesn't carry 100% juices, most health food stores will. However, as noted above, 100% cranberry juice tastes like fire and will burn your insides. Most people drink it diluted either with other juices or with water.

Because it tastes so bad to the average American, you will almost never find 100% cranberry juice at a supermarket, but you will find 100% juice blends that have cranberry juice as a major flavor. Usually they mix it with a milder tasting juice like apple juice to cut the bitterness and add some sweetness. It's still 100% juice, however, no corn syrup or anything.

Grapefruit juice should be easy to find...in my supermarket it is located next to the fresh orange juice, and this is how I have seen it placed in dozens of other supermarkets.
posted by tastybrains at 4:36 PM on October 16, 2007

If it just says "Juice," it will probably be 100% juice.

Sadly, this is totally not true anymore.
posted by desuetude at 4:37 PM on October 16, 2007

Thanks for the warning danblaker. But I compost so much stuff that it pretty much evens out. I basically compost everything in the belief that it all breaks back down eventually into the same coupla dozen atomic Lego bricks that us organic beings are made of.
posted by Camofrog at 4:37 PM on October 16, 2007

In a lot of cases, they sweeten using white grape juice or apple juice instead of corn syrup. It doesn't cost a lot more and it permits them to claim "100% fruit juice" on the label.

I second what was said above: do you really realize just how tart and intense pure cranberry juice is? Pucker city!
posted by Steven C. Den Beste at 4:57 PM on October 16, 2007

Knudsen's makes «Just Cranberry», which is much too strong to drink straight; cut it with your liquid of choice. They also sell an even-stronger cranberry concentrate in small bottles.

On preview:

you will almost never find 100% cranberry juice at a supermarket

I've seen the Knudsen's 100% cranberry in regular supermarkets all over the Pacific Northwest of N. America. Perhaps it's a regional thing.
posted by D.C. at 4:58 PM on October 16, 2007

desuetude, I think if your beverage is less than 100% juice, it still cannot be called fruit juice. I'm trying to dig up something authoritative to back this up.
posted by zsazsa at 5:03 PM on October 16, 2007

My local (PDX, OR) market is Fred Meyers. They have a "generic" "FredMeyer" brand Cranberry Grape juice, that has an ingredient list of:
filtered water
grape juice concentrate
apple juice concentrate
cranberry juice concentrate
natural flavors
asorbic acid (vitamin C)
citric acid

Does that work for you?
posted by browse at 5:05 PM on October 16, 2007

A-ha!

For a carbonated or noncarbonated beverage that contains less than 100 percent and more than 0 percent fruit or vegetable juice, the common or usual name shall be a descriptive name that meets the requirements of Sec. 102.5(a) and, if the common or usual name uses the
word "juice," shall include a qualifying term such as "beverage," "cocktail," or "drink" appropriate to advise the consumer that the product is less than 100 percent juice (e.g., "diluted grape juice beverage" or "grape juice drink").
posted by zsazsa at 5:13 PM on October 16, 2007

Wholefoods has a large selection of *pure* fruit juices.
posted by 6:1 at 5:15 PM on October 16, 2007

I used to work for these guys, and hate one particular manager but think the stores are pretty cool - Good Earth Natural Foods. They've got locations in Orem, Provo, American Fork, Riverdale, and Sandy, and quite the selection of real, organic, vegan, whateverthehellyounutballswant products - including Knudsen's Just Cranberry Juice, 32 oz., $8.59, Mountain Sun Pure Cranberry Juice, 32 oz., $8.75, and Lakewood Organic Pink Grapefruit Juice, 32 oz., $4.99. There's a whole crapload more, but I'll leave you to investigate on your own. Have fun!
posted by po at 5:33 PM on October 16, 2007

I get 100% cranberry juice exactly as often as I get UTIs (ugh!) and I get it at Whole Foods. (It's really not much fun to drink straight. I've acquired something of a taste for it, but it's still... intense.)
posted by restless_nomad at 5:58 PM on October 16, 2007

Seconding trader joe's, and seconding waaaaay sour.

i have a hypoglycemic friend who drinks it; when I'm over at his house, I'm always manage to try and mix it with vodka resulting in fun taste surprises.

it's definitely the sort of sour you could get used to, like that pomegranate stuff.
posted by fishfucker at 6:23 PM on October 16, 2007

I've seen 100% cranberry (no other juices, no sweeteners) at my local co-op grocery, I think Wild Oats might carry it also.
posted by yohko at 9:48 PM on October 16, 2007

You can make your own fresh cranberry juice very easily. You'll just have to stock up on fresh cranberries during the holidays. They'll keep for months in the freezer, and it's wa cheaper than buying pure cranberry juice or concentrates.

12 ounce bag of fresh cranberries
4 cups water
Boil the cranberries until the pop. Strain the pulp. This makes about 32 ounces of cranberry juice.
posted by lemoncello at 10:58 PM on October 16, 2007 [1 favorite has favorites]

filtered water
grape juice concentrate
apple juice concentrate
cranberry juice concentrate
natural flavors
ascorbic acid (vitamin C)
citric acid

Does that work for you?

The main thrust of my question was cornlessness, so yes, this qualifies, assuming fructose is not disguised as a 'natural flavor' (which I suspect is illegal, because it's caloric). A juice-only drink would be better, and straight-up crangloriousness would be best, but yeah, that qualifies.

[various comments reminding me that it's sour]

I appreciate your concern for my well-being. If it gets to be too much, I promise I'll ease off before I black out. (Yeah, I know, that's just what I said that one time, about the ... er ... anyway ... well, this is different.)

Actually, no, I'm not sure that I would drink it straight in large quantities, or at least not very often. But I've got a recipe (no, that is not the AskMeFoodie equivalent of "It's for a story I'm writing") that wants honest, straight-up cranberry juice, for use in gummy candies. Couldn't find any last time, nor whole berries either, so I hacked the recipe to use 'juice cocktail' (boiled down to drive off the water, and with part of the sucrose omitted, after estimating the dilution and sweetening by experimenting with fresh lemon juice). But I want to make the real thing this time. Thank you, lemoncello, for reminding me to stock up.

I've seen the Knudsen's 100% cranberry in regular supermarkets all over the Pacific Northwest of N. America. Perhaps it's a regional thing.

Could be. I was raised from an infant in the Northwest myself.
posted by eritain at 1:37 PM on October 17, 2007

Special super bonus best answer to rossmik, who bought a bottle of Martinelli's sparkling cran-apple and brought it to me. Appley flavor did not destroy the cranberry edge. And yes, I put a check mark on the bottle before we drank it.
posted by eritain at 6:52 PM on November 2, 2007