What is your favorite juice?

Apples or oranges? Vegetables such as tomatoes?
Or clams?

In fact, everyone who rushed to “Eh, clams!” Actually, the English “juice” does not always refer to fruit and vegetable juices.

From the meaning of “juice” used in the world, to the difference between “concentration reduction” and “straight”, and “the most popular juice in Japan”, we will deliver a comprehensive “juice trivia”!

The “juice” used in Japan is based on the English “juice”.
However, the meaning is a little different!

Look at the can above. It says “Sea Clam Juice”.

“Clam” is the same as “clam chowder” clam and refers to clams such as clams.
Yes, this is “shellfish juice”!

When I live in Japan, I tend to think that juice ingredients = fruits and vegetables only. In fact, if you look for “juice” in the Japanese dictionary, you will see mainly “fruit and vegetable juice”.

On the other hand, if you look at "juice" in the English-Japanese dictionary, you will find explanations such as "fruits, vegetables, juices such as meat and liquids". English juice is not just about fruit juice and vegetable juice.

By the way, Shiclam Juice is a juice that squeezes the shell. It seems that it is often used for cooking rather than drinking as it is. When added as soup stock, the flavor will increase.

In the Japanese sense, you would think that “juice = something that you can drink as it is”, but in English it is not necessarily a “drink”.

Have you ever bought a cola or sports drink by saying "I want to drink juice?"

Those that are not juices such as fruits / vegetables, meat and shellfish are, of course, not “juice”!
Strictly speaking, it does not apply to Japanese “juice”.

日本では、食品の表示として、果汁100％の場合を「果実ジュース」、10％以上100％未満の果汁が入っている場合は「果汁入り飲料」と定められているんです。

また、果汁100％にも種類があるんですよ。

If you look closely at the package, you will notice that it is written as “straight” or “concentrated reduction”. Do you know this difference?

濃縮還元は、搾った果汁を加熱し、水分を飛ばして濃縮。ジュースとして商品にする際に再び水分を加え、もとに戻す製造方法です。

The merit is that it is easy to store and transport, and that you can always make a juice of stable quality. Fruits are usually harvested once a year, but not all products are shipped at that time. Therefore, it is stored at a low temperature in a concentrated state with a reduced capacity.

In the case of “straight”, the juice is squeezed directly into the container without concentration and water reduction.

As its name suggests, straight fruit juice is a juice that allows you to enjoy the true taste of the fruit.

reference: JA Aoren Homepage

100% of fruit juice is “fruit juice”, and more than 10% but less than 100% is “fruit juice drink”. And the difference between "concentration reduction" and "straight" ...

Once you know a lot about juices, do you ever wonder what kind of juices are popular?

Regarding this, the Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries has conducted a questionnaire on “Trends in consumption of fruits and fruit drinks” in the past.

According to the answer, "fruit juice ratio" and "raw fruit type" are the Top priority when purchasing fruit drinks (both juice and juice-containing drinks).

And the percentage of fruit juice that is often purchased was 65% of the respondents who answered “100%”.
Regarding the place of origin, 53% answered “domestic”.

You can see that there are so many people who are particular about “100% fruit juice” and “domestic production”.

In terms of taste, “Rinko” was the most popular fruit drink to purchase.

Next, “mixed beverage of vegetables and fruits”, “mandarin oranges”, “orange”, “buto”.
Apple is the number one fruit juice produced in Japan.

The amount of domestic fruit juice produced in 2010 was 23,705 tons of apple juice.
This is approximately 3.4 times the production volume of No. 2 eel juice (6,966t) (*).

※「果実飲料の流通状況（平成22年度）」（消費者庁）に掲載の「平成20年 国内産主要果汁 (1/5濃縮果汁換算)生産量」（農林水産省生産局生産流通振興課調べ）より

You can see how apple juice is popular.
Japan's King of Juice seems to be "100% domestic apple juice".

If you are wondering what juice to use, why not choose “100% domestic apple juice” which can be said to be “No. 1 in popularity”?

参考1）「果実・果実飲料の消費動向について（平成19年度）」(農林水産省)
参考2）果実飲料品質表示基準（制定 平成12年12月19日農林水産省告示第1683号、改正 平成23年9月30日消費者庁告示第10号）、果実飲料等の表示に関する公正競争規約及び施行規則（制定 平成13年1月31日公正取引委員会告示第5号、改正 令和元年6月28日）　（注：本記事ではわかりやすく簡略化して記載しています）