February 2008 |
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Main Nibbles / Beverages / JuicesPomegranate Juice ReviewsPage 3: 100% Pomegranate Juices
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| Full-Bodied | 100% Pomegranate Juice |
POM Wonderful This deep red juice is made entirely from California-grown pomegranates of the variety called Wonderful (hence the name, POM Wonderful). Deeply colored and flavored, this full-bodied purple juice is quite sweet, with an undertone of honey. A slightly bitter, almost tannic finish (POM crushes the whole fruit to make the juice, imparting some of the skin’s bitterness to it) helps balance this sweetness. Since the flavor of this juice is potent and the liquid has a thick consistency, it makes an excellent candidate for thinning out with sparkling water or using in cocktails. Certified kosher by Orthodox Union
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| Sweet | |
Elite Naturel ~ Natural Elite Naturel makes this juice from 100% natural Turkish pomegranates (the company also makes one from organic pomegranates) that have been cold-pressed with their seeds. This process helps create a deliciously sweet juice, with lovely notes of raspberry, apple and grape, and without the bitterness of many of the juices we tried. The light body of this mauve-colored juice makes it pleasing and playful to drink on its own. Alternatively, it could be mixed with seltzer for a subtly flavored spritzer. Certified kosher by Orthodox Union
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Super Granate This was the sweetest one we tasted. It’s very light in body and has a clear, rose hue. The liquid has an oddly vegetal smell, reminiscent of tomato juice, but tastes nothing like it smells. There’s a good deal of tartness to this sugary-tasting drink. For fans of things sticky and sweet, it’s a fine juice for straight drinking. Certified kosher by The Organized Kashrus
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| Tart & Tangy | |
Frützzo When we first tasted this organic juice, it was really astringent, with a bitter aftertaste that burned on the way down. After the juice had a chance to breathe for a day or so and we gave it a second try, it had mellowed quite a bit. Fresh out of the bottle, it was a little too much for us to handle, but after some time, the very light-bodied, orange-brick-colored liquid became suitable for straight consumption or for adding a tart kick to other beverages—as bitters might do in a cocktail. Like some of the other juices, it carries a tomato-like odor but does not taste vegetal at all. Certified USDA Organic
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Heirloom Farms This next member of the tomato-smelling-but-not-tasting school of pomegranate juice is almost translucent, with peachy-red coloring, and is both acidic and sweet. The juice, which comes from pomegranates grown in Turkey, starts off very bitter. But like many of the others, it mellows and becomes easily drinkable after it’s been open for a while. It has undertones of vanilla and a light-to-medium body. Certified kosher by The Organized Kashrus
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Purely Juice This medium-bodied juice is an almost opaque brown-purple, has floral undertones and smells a lot like chewy fruit snacks (in a good way). It’s very tart and semi-bitter, but becomes a lot tastier after it’s been open a couple days. Since it’s not light, it can be used as a mixer.
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R.W. Knudsen ~ Concentrate This thick, syrupy concentrate (R.W. Knudsen also makes a regular juice, discussed below) packs a potent tangy-sweetness that makes it extremely versatile. By adding water to the concentrate (Knudsen recommends using a three-to-one ratio), the concentrate can be reconstituted to 100% juice status. As a juice, its sweetness becomes more pronounced as it loses some of its pucker. Straight up, the brown-red, opaque liquid makes a wonderful flavoring agent for cocktails and spritzers and lends itself nicely to use in cooking (try a drop instead of lemon juice for a tart, acidic kick). The concentrate is too tart for most people to enjoy on its own; it is meant to be diluted.
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| Juicy | |
L & A Cranberry and honey undertones pervade this light-to-medium bodied juice. The transparent, brownish-pink liquid, which contains some floating particles, is utterly drinkable as it is, and a bit on the sweet side. Certified kosher by Orthodox Union
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Lakewood This light-bodied, fresh-pressed juice starts out sweet but fairly neutral in flavor. A tannic, slightly bitter finish rounds it out nicely and makes it good for straight drinking. USDA Certified Organic
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R.W. Knudsen ~ Juice This juice, which is made from California-grown Wonderfuls, is thin and light, with lots of sediment, and has a vegetal smell. When we first tried it, the juice tasted very bitter, even a bit plastic, but after being open a few days, mellowed significantly. Unlike the other members of this category, it’s not a particularly sweet juice (it tastes quite unlike the reconstituted Knudsen concentrate). Once it has had a chance to breathe, it makes a nice juice for drinking.
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Trader Joe’s We had trouble categorizing this one, as it is both very juicy and very sweet. The opaque, grey-purple juice tastes a lot like apple juice, with notes of orange, berries and grape (it smells like purple grape candy). It’s tangy with a medium to full body—like a gourmet Hawaiian Punch. For some tasters, this juice had a bit too much going on, but most tasters enjoyed its fruitiness. Kids would enjoy this the best. Notably, this product comes in a bottle with an absurdly wide mouth (it’s supposed to evoke a carafe) that makes it difficult to pour without spilling, because unlike a sturdy carafe, the soft plastic wobbles.
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Whole Foods 365 This juice has an attractive and winey dark red color and a pleasingly mild cranberry smell. It contains notes of cranberry flavor as well as cherry. The juice is well-rounded and not too sweet, with an appropriately rich (but not too heavy) texture that carries the flavors well. Medium-bodied and well-balanced, with a slightly tart finish, this juice makes for easy drinking and can be used as a mixer as readily as cranberry juice. Certified kosher by Orthodox Union
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| Earthy | |
Elite Naturel ~ Organic Made from Turkish-grown organic pomegranates, this juice is very light in body, like its natural counterpart, but the similarities end there. (The comparison between Elite Naturel’s two juices demonstrates what a difference a particular kind of pomegranate makes in the flavor of a juice.) The brownish-red liquid smells like tomato, and tastes unusually vegetal. It is mild in flavor, neither sweet nor bitter, contains plenty of sediment, and has a slightly dry finish. This particular batch wasn’t quite to our taste, but it might make a nice drinking juice for someone looking for the earthiness of vegetable juice in the body of a fruit juice. Certified kosher by Orthodox Union
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Product photos by Claire Freierman.
Continue To Page 4: Reviews Of Pomegranate Juice Blends
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