Apple juice

Apple juice (sometimes abbreviated AJ) is the fruit juice product originally manufactured from the pressing of apples. In North America, juice produced from apples under some circumstances is referred to as cider rather than as apple juice. Outside of North America, cider refers exclusively to a fermented drink (an alcoholic beverage), so the same distinction is not made.

Production

Due to the heavy equipment required to extract juice from an apple, cider and apple juice are almost always commercially produced as opposed to the juices from easily juiced fruits such as oranges or lemons.

Uses

Apple juice is a common beverage both for children and for adults, but in North America, apple juice often is marketed specifically to children, who are informally considered its major consumers. Apple juice is also a component of several cocktails. It may also be produced and drunk in a carbonated form, referred to as sparkling apple juice.

Medical and Nutritional Benefits

The nutriotional value of apple juice, in and of itself, is suspect: the juice contains mostly natural sugars (fructose), and little vitamin content, especially in comparison to other fruit juices. Also, most apple juices marketed for public consumption contain added sugars, and occasionally high-fructose corn syrup. The portion of the apple fruit containing the most substantive nutrition is its skin; neither the skin, nor its nutrients, are incorporated into processed apple juice.

Nevertheless, apple juice has been used as an effective rehydration tool in medical patients requiring rapid rehydration, and in postoperative patients at risk of dehydration. Its electrolyte balance is roughly equivalent to that of most consumer sports drinks.

Unfermented cider

American-style unfiltered, unfermented unpasturized cider, left; Apple juice, right.

In North America, cider was traditionally fermented, but that alcoholic apple drink is now referred to as hard cider or as alcoholic cider. Today in the United States of America (and parts of Canada), cider is a nonalcoholic beverage; a subcategory of apple juice traditionally made from early-harvest apples which have a lower sugar content and are more acidic, thus cider has a more tart, tangy taste than apple juice. It is generally (though not always) unfiltered, giving it an opaque appearance from suspended solids. It is occasionally still sold unpasteurized, which is considered to have a better flavor, however, due to the possibility of salmonella and E. coli infection, most apple cider is pasteurised.

Apple ciders are often made from blends of several different apples to give a balanced taste. Some businesses may try to pass off standard apple juice as cider. There is some local competitiveness among cider mills in apple country for the highest quality blends, and makers keep their formulas secret. One trick used to add interest to a cider blend is the addition of a percentage of crabapples. Cider doughnuts are often sold at cider mills and contain cider in the batter. Visiting apple orchards in the fall for cider, doughnuts and u-pick apples is a large segment in U.S. agritourism.

Hot cider or mulled cider (also known as "Wassail") is a popular fall (autumn) and winter beverage, consisting of (nonalcoholic) cider, heated to a temperature just below boiling, with cinnamon, orange peel, nutmeg, cloves, and other spices added.

Another cider available in the US is sparkling cider, a carbonated nonalcoholic beverage made from filtered apple cider or apple juice.

It has been suggested that in United States of America the differences between apple juice and cider are not legally well established [1], but in American common use, cider is usually understood to be the cloudier, unfiltered and less processed of the two products. Nonetheless, some large U.S. corporations continue to seasonally market the same clear, filtered, processed, and pasteurized apple juice as "apple cider", particularly in urban supermarkets, where, presumably, some less informed consumers won't know the difference.