Açaí (pronounced along the lines of ah-sigh-ee) is just about the ultimate superfood, as the South American berry has a higher concentration of anti-aging antioxidants than any other food out there, is high in fiber and has an "almost perfect essential amino acid complex" that will aid in muscle function. Up until recently it was virtually unknown in commercial foods, but its extraordinarily fast rise to popularity means that it is popping up all over the supermarket these days.

Bossa Nova bottles açaí juice, both pure and blended with other fruit juices, to make it easy for consumers to get the maximum health benefits of the fruit. All of their products are completely organic and they proudly advertise the fact that they work in conjunction with the Rainforest Alliance, so that each bottle you buy saves a tree. They make five flavors, including açaí and açaí blended with raspberry, blueberry, mango and passionfruit. Açaí itself tastes quite similar to blueberry, which will give you an idea of what the flavor combinations taste like, but the excellent drinks are refreshing and give you a little peace of mind that you're doing something good for your body.

In a bid to compete with Coca Cola's Odwalla line of smoothies and vitamin-fortified fruit drinks, which the company acquired in 2001, Pepsi has bought the company Naked Juice. Naked Juice offers a line of more than 20 different juices, juice blends and smoothies, all of which are 100% natural and free from added sugars, preservatives and artificial colorings. A privately held company, their annual revenue is about $150 million, which has led financial analysts to speculate Pepsi probably paid around $450 million for Naked Juice, although the terms of the sale were not disclosed. Naked Juice will benefit from this new partnership by gaining access to more retailers and a much bigger marketing department, which they will be able to take advantage of to promote their "super premium" juices, raising their brand awareness for health and wellness conscious consumers.

If you love drinking fruit juices, but think you might need to cut back because of recent reports out of UCSF linking juice to childhood obesity, well ignore that and pay attention to this recent study published in the American Journal of Medicine that shows that frequently drinking fruit and vegetable juices may significantly cut the risk of developing Alzheimer's disease.

US researchers found that the risk of Alzheimer's disease was "76% lower for those who drank juice more than three times a week, compared with those who drank it less than once a week."

Fruit and vegetable juices are rich in polyphenols, chemicals that disrupt the process that accumulates clumps of beta-amyloid protein in the brain, which are associated with the development of Alzheimer's disease.

So while you might get a little chubby from all that sugar, at least you'll remember who you are.

Love wine but need to "lay off the slosh sauce" for a bit? You could drink grape juice, especially now since Welch's 100% Concord grape juice has been listed as a top anti-oxidant containing food, but then, you're just drinking grape juice.

Navarro Vineyards, located in the Anderson Valley in coastal Mendocino, has been growing grapes and making wine since 1974, but they also make grape juices from the same grape varietals they use to make wine: Chardonnay, Gewürtztraminer, and Pinot Noir. They started making the juices after their own children wanted to share in the joys of the vineyard.

Bottles are availabel for purchase from their website and cost between $9.75 and $11.00 per bottle.

[via: BoingBoing]

We have discussed the fact that juice is not the healthy drink that it appears to be because it can have as many calories and as much sugar as soda. For a snack that is more filling with fewer calories, it is a better idea to eat the whole fruit than to simply sip the juice.

E4B is a company that put the nutritional aspects of whole fruit into a drinkable form. They sell conveniently packaged fruit purees in five flavors: strawberry banana, mango, pear caramel, kiwi and blueberry raspberry. All of the purees are made with 100% natural fruits with no additives and one of the main reasons that E4B's products work is that their unique packaging, developed in Japan for use by NASA's astronauts, allows the contents to remain fresh without preservatives or refrigeration.

You can sip the purees as a snack or an on-the-go quick breakfast. They can also be used as a topping for ice creams and other desserts. You can buy them online or check their website for store locations.

[via Cool Hunting]

Thinking about Lemonade this morning put me in the mood for something refreshing and the Pink Lemonade from Simply Recipes sounds like just the thing. Elise's recipe is extra-pink and uses cranberry juice to give it its distinctive coloring, unlike commercial versions which use food colorings or concentrated natural colors to create pinkness. The natural tartness of the cranberry juice also helps it to blend well with the lemon flavor, creating a smooth and balanced drink. Sure - it's a tiny bit girly looking, but who could turn down a glass of lemonade, knowing that it was homemade? If you can't use plain sugar for any reason, you could try sweetening the juice with Splenda, too.

The Big Book of Juices and Smoothies has 365 recipes for juices and smoothies that you can make at home, rather than having to go out to a specialty juice bar and pay upwards of $4 or $5 for a drink. There are combinations intended to boost your energy level, increase your immune system's function and even to clear your skin. The basis for these claims is found in the inherent nutritive benefits of natural fruits and vegetables and at the end of the book, there is a  section that not only gives you all the nutritional information for the juices, but makes recommendations based upon your health needs (feeling tired, achy, etc)

The book is spiral-bound, so you can lay it flat on the counter while you work at your juicer or blender, and the recipes are arranged by ingredient, making it easy to find recipes based around the ingredients you have on hand. It's a nice reference book to have on hand, especially during the summer when cooking can seem too tiring or you'd simply rather have a cool drink than a hot meal during the day.

The San Francisco Chronicle did a taste test of pure pomegranate juices, more and more of which have been finding their way onto shelves and into refrigerators in grocery stores as the antioxidant-rich fruit gains popularity. Their tasting only dealt with the pure juices (not blends) and tasters picked POM Wonderful as their favorite, over brands like L&A, Langers, Frutzzo, Knudsen and Trader Joe's. The brilliant jewel color of the juice was mentioned several times by tasters, but the "blend of sweet and tangy" flavor won over 4/5 of the panelists.

Pomegranate juice, particularly POM, isn't cheap and sells for around $3.99 for 16-ounces. While it won against other pomegranate juices, is it really worth buying over other kinds of juice from a taste perspective?

I liked the blueberry-pomegranate blend more than the pure pomegranate juice, myself, and I still think that I'd much rather eat some actual pomegranate than drink either of the beverages.

The concept of "drinkable fruit" is one that I do not quite understand. I understand fruit juice, but Tropicana's new Fruitwise Drinkable Fruit beverages are just confusing. Tropicana makes good-quality products, so I don't doubt that these drinks taste good, but the marketing concept is weird.

The drinkable fruit line is neither a juice nor a smoothie, but somewhere in between. The products claim to deliver two full servings of fruit in their 8-ounce, 170-calorie containers, but the fruit inside isn't necessarily the flavor printed on the packaging. Take the Strawberry Kiwi flavor, for example. It lists it ingredients as "filtered water, apple puree concentrate, strawberry puree concentrate, white grape juice concentrate, apple juice concentrate, raspberry puree concentrate, kiwi juice concentrate and natural flavors." The ingredients are all natural and to increase the thickness it is not surprising that everything was from "concentrate" - but there are more flavors in the bottle than promised, and the kiwi flavor seems as though it was thrown in as an afterthought.

A serving of fruit juice is ordinarily 6-ounces and you could drink 12-ounces of fruit juice for the same number of calories contained n one of these drinks - so why bother with them? Have plain juice if you are looking to get more fruit into your diet or make a smoothie on your own instead of reaching for one of these.