How to preserve freshly squeezed orange juice?
When we want to enjoy a good fruit juice, we want it to be fresh and with highly concentrated flavors. In the case of the orange, it is one of the most consumed fruits, not only because of its rich flavor, but also because of the ease of preparing it in juice. Today we will teach you how to preserve freshly squeezed orange juice so that you can make the most of its freshness whenever you want.
Knowing how to preserve freshly squeezed orange juice will help you take advantage of your fruits if you have squeezed a little more and you are not going to consume it right now.
If suddenly you find offers in the market and decide to take home a lot of oranges and then do not know what to do with them, it will also come in handy. We are going to see some alternatives for its conservation.
Advantages of learning how to preserve squeezed orange juice
Knowing ways to preserve food is always beneficial, since it allows us to save and make some decisions in the future.
In the particular case of fruit juices, having freshly extracted and fresh juices is a magnificent experience, since not only the taste is much better, but we also have the opportunity to take advantage of all the nutrients that are contained in the fruit pulp. A good fruit juice is the ideal complement to balance any diet.
Unfortunately, after a short time after being squeezed, juices can lose their nutritional value and some flavors, especially orange. For this reason, it is crucial to know how to preserve freshly squeezed orange juice and be able to enjoy its benefits for longer.
In addition, the juices usually have a short shelf life, and can quickly spoil in hours.
In the particular case of orange juice, it is not recommended that it spend more than one day in the fridge, since the vitamin C it contains has an average life of 12 hours. After this time, the juice can begin to ferment and its taste will become increasingly bitter.
This means that the sooner we consume the juice once it has been squeezed, the better. And if you are wondering how to preserve freshly squeezed orange juice to make the most of its properties that is precisely what we will see below.
Learn how to preserve freshly squeezed orange juice
As we have pointed out, to take full advantage of the properties of a fruit, the ideal is to consume a freshly extracted juice. However, this is often not possible due to time constraints, especially when we are hosting events at home. Therefore, it is important to know how to preserve freshly squeezed orange juice.
The way in which the juice is extracted and how the fruits are handled at the time of squeezing them, is also essential to help them preserve them better for much longer. So, before getting into conservation matters, we will leave you with some tips to prepare your juices in the best way.
How to get the best juice
There are several methods to extract the juice from fruits. In the case of oranges, a good quality juicer is enough, but the same does not happen with other types of fruit.
The most common ways of preparing juice are through the vaporization of the fruits and cold pressing.
In the first case, the method consists of steaming or boiling the fruits until they acquire a certain consistency to later be blended. However, there is a problem with this procedure: enzymes and nutrients can be lost when the fruits are exposed to heat.
For its part, cold pressing is done with a hydraulic press and, although its use may be more advantageous, it is also unusual to find this type of machinery in a home. Although hopefully, among the hospitality machines it could be found.
For this last method, the blender is also used at the end. This integrates the fruit and forms the juice. You should know that also, after the blender, some important nutrients can be lost, so these chemical elements must be balanced in the rest of the diet.
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Tips for preserving your freshly squeezed orange juice
To prolong the life of our fruits, the easiest way to preserve freshly squeezed orange juice is to freeze it, but following certain parameters to ensure that the loss of beneficial agents is minimal.
If you decide to freeze orange juice, the recommendation is to do it in glass containers, so they can have less oxidation. Also, if you can put it in the freezer right after juicing it, you will preserve its nutritional values and original flavor even more.
One way to achieve greater safety in the conservation process is to use pasteurized containers, or pasteurizing the glass containers you already have. To do this, you must place both the container that will contain the juice and its lid in a pot with enough water and boil them for at least half an hour.
After this time, remove them very carefully and let them dry in the open air without touching them too much. After they are cool and dry, pour the juice into the containers, filling them as high as you can to prevent oxygen buildup. Seal them very well and put them in the freezer. If you wish, you can add three tablespoons of lemon juice per liter so that it is better preserved.
How to thaw orange juice?
Now that you know how to preserve freshly squeezed orange juice, here are some final tips so you can thaw it without compromising the integrity of the juice.
You can thaw the juice again simply by moving the containers from the freezer to the refrigerator and leaving them there until thawed. Another way is to put the container in a container with warm water until it becomes liquid.
Finally, if it’s hot enough, the best way to thaw orange juice is to leave it at room temperature.