While browsing the aisles at the grocery store today I became very frustrated in the juice aisle looking for some cranberry juice. Though it’s always been hard to find just straight cranberry juice, not a cocktail or combination, I never realized just how many juices out there that are not 100% juice actually say they are on the bottle. It’s amazing to me that anyone could claim their product is 100% juice when they clearly are not. Will someone please explain to me how a product made from concentrate with “enough water to reconstitute” is 100% fruit juice? Doesn’t that little bit of water mean that it is no longer 100% juice?

It was astounding to look at bottle after bottle of “100% Fruit Juice” to see water listed in the ingredients. When did water become fruit juice? Is it safe to assume then that the water coming out of my kitchen faucet is fruit juice? Eew, what about the stuff in my toilet – is that fruit juice? And just where are they getting this water from to “reconstitute” the fruit juice? If it’s 100% natural spring water, then it’s not so bad, but are there regulations on that?

So, the next time you pick up a bottle of “100% Fruit Juice”, take a look at the label and see if it really is 100% Juice. I bet you will be surprised. And for those that care, I left the store with no cranberry juice – I couldn’t find any that were 100% juice.

Warning: I actually found TWO bottles of “100% Fruit Juice”, as stated on the label, that actually had High Fructose Corn Syrup in the ingredients list. Funny, I thought corn was a grain, but I guess now it’s fruit.