tropicana, Recipes, & Food News

Are Name-Brand Foods Worth It?

by Jason Best, Posted Sep 8th 2010 @ 11:00AM

It's been a long time since store brands were relegated to the bottom shelf of the grocery store, saddled with those generic black-and-white labels ("Ketchup," "Pickles") that made them look like provisions in a Soviet commissary.

Still, despite fancier labels, a lot of shoppers are leery of anything that doesn't sport a name brand. "That's just plain silly," your penny-pinching grandmother might have said. "You're just paying for the name."

According to the findings of a recent study by Consumer Reports, it turns out that she might have been right.

The consumer watchdog that's better known for road testing cars and troubleshooting cell phones has turned its attention to the grocery store. The group had tasters sample 21 different food products and compare national brands with their store-brand equivalents.

The results?

Filed under: News

Best Lemonade: Our Taste Test Results

COMMENTS 0

by Slashfood Editor, Posted Sep 1st 2009 @ 4:49PM

We puckered our way through 70 cartons, bottles, and cans in search of the best store-bought brand of lemonade. Read on for results.

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Lemonade Taste Test

by AOL Food Editors
Our team of food editors shook, stirred, popped the top and puckered their way through 70 cartons, bottles, cans and pouches in search of the most thirst-quenching, soul-satisfying brand of store-bought lemonade. In the end, they selected several runners-up and a winner in each of seven categories: plastic bottle, can, juice box or pouch, powder, glass bottle and paper carton, as well as the best pink lemonade and the absolute best and worst overall. Read on for results and see how store brands can sometimes rule.

Rachel Been, AOL

Getty Images North America

Lemonade Taste Test

by AOL Food Editors
Our team of food editors shook, stirred, popped the top and puckered their way through 70 cartons, bottles, cans and pouches in search of the most thirst-quenching, soul-satisfying brand of store-bought lemonade. In the end, they selected several runners-up and a winner in each of seven categories: plastic bottle, can, juice box or pouch, powder, glass bottle and paper carton, as well as the best pink lemonade and the absolute best and worst overall. Read on for results and see how store brands can sometimes rule.

Rachel Been, AOL

Runner-up: Plastic Bottle
Tropicana Lemonade

Sweetener: High Fructose Corn Syrup
Calories per serving: 100
Tart (1) - Sweet (5): 3
Lemon strength: Medium
Our panel says: "More like lemon soda than lemonade, this was light and refreshing."

Learn more about Tropicana

Rachel Been, AOL

Runner-up: Plastic Bottle
Simply Lemonade

Sweetener: Natural Sugar
Calories per serving: 120
Tart (1) - Sweet (5): 3
Lemon strength: Medium
Our panel says: "It was balanced and non-sticky with a smooth, lime-like finish." "I tend to like the 'Simply' series -- orange juice, limeade, etc. -- and this does not disappoint."

Learn more about Simply

Rachel Been, AOL

Winner: Plastic Bottle:
Citarella Freshly Squeezed Lemonade

Sweetener: Pure Cane Sugar
Calories per serving: N/A
Tart (1) - Sweet (5): 5
Lemon strength: Mild
Our panel says: "With notes of (unadvertised) coconut and lime, this was a tropical dream." "It's like a vacation in a bottle."

Learn more about Citarella Store brand

Rachel Been, AOL

Runner-up: Canned
Country Time Lemonade

Sweetener: High Fructose Corn Syrup
Calories per serving: 140
Tart (1) - Sweet (5): 3
Lemon Strength: Solid
Our panel says: "It's wonderfully bold and lemony, neither too tart or too sweet." "The finish is a little bit sticky, but the flavor makes up for it."

Learn more about Country Time

Rachel Been, AOL

Runner-up: Canned
Arizona Lemonade

Sweetener: High Fructose Corn Syrup
Calories per serving: 110
Tart (1) - Sweet (5): 2
Lemon Strength:
Our panel says: "The flavor is just about perfect -- a wonderful balance of sweet and sour. Only drawback is the slightly sticky mouth feel, but just solve that by ditching the can and serving over ice." "Nicely balanced, assertive, no messing around."

Learn more about Arizona

Rachel Been, AOL

Winner: Canned
San Pellegrino Limonata

Sweetener: Sugar
Calories per serving: 141
Tart (1) - Sweet (5): 2
Lemon Strength: Intense
Our panel says: "This is incredible front-porch lemonade -- if your front porch happens to sport marble columns with ivy growing up them. This is grown-up lemonade that's strong, clear, effervescent and utterly addictive."

Learn more about San Pellegrino

Rachel Been, AOL

Runner-up: Juice Box
Minute Maid Lemonade

Sweetener: High Fructose Corn Syrup
Calories per serving: 90
Tart (1) - Sweet (5): 4
Lemon strength: Medium
Our panel says: "A refreshing small box for when you're on the go" "It wasn't as sweet as I thought it would be -- and that's a good thing."

Learn more about Minute Maid

Rachel Been, AOL

Winner: Juice Box
Hi-C Poppin' Lemonade

Sweetener: High Fructose Corn Syrup
Calories per serving: 100
Tart (1) - Sweet (5): 3
Lemon Strength: Mild
Our panel says: "A crowd shocker, it wasn't as sweet as the majority of juice boxes." "A well balanced drink."

Learn more about Hi-C

Rachel Been, AOL

Runner-up: Powdered
Crystal Light Lemonade

Sweetener: Aspartame
Calories per serving: 5
Tart (1) - Sweet (5): 3
Lemon Strength: Right up front
Our panel says: "This is the rarest of all creatures -- a low-calorie lemonade that doesn't have a nasty aftertaste! The taste that it does have is actually a really nice balance of tart and sweet."

Learn more about Crystal Light

Rachel Been, AOL

Filed under: Taste Test

Wait ... Tropicana Got a Makeover?!

COMMENTS 24

by Monika Bartyzel, Posted Jan 16th 2009 @ 11:03AM

I don't know where I've been. It appears that Tropicana has gotten a makeover, and it's one that was revealed a few months ago, but is finally hitting shelves this year, according to Serious Eats. (I haven't spotted them yet.)

How bland and terrible! As Brand New said, "This new packaging feels, at best, like a discount store brand with what looks like, again, at best, rights-managed stock photography if not outright royalty free." I understand that things get modernized. But really -- I don't think Tropicana's old logo was particularly old. But even if it was, they're about the only widespread brand where you have the chance of sometimes getting orange juice that almost tastes as it it was made that day. (It's rare, but when it happens, it's divine!) That should count for something.

Now ... It just looks terrible. It's hard to visually differentiate, but more importantly: It looks CHEAP! If I hadn't drank Tropicana most of my life, I'd never, ever pick that up over other brands with that packaging. Yet another reason why Pepsi is evil, although their re-do (also in the SE link above) looks a heck of a lot better than my beloved Tropicana.

What do you think?

Filed under: Ingredients, New Products

Tropicana Fruit Squeeze coming soon

COMMENTS 15

by Joanne Lutynec, Posted Feb 6th 2007 @ 9:02AM

Because they don't have quite enough products already, (forgive the slight tinge of sarcasm) PepsiCo is apparently unleashing yet another brand of "enhanced water" on the market. Tropicana Fruit Squeeze, a blend of water with a splash of fruit juice, is scheduled to be released next month according to BrandWeek.

I'm sure it's delicious and refreshing and all that, but really, do we need another flavored water? I can understand from a business perspective why they keep releasing new products, obviously people are buying them, but I really have to wonder who those people are. PepsiCo already has four similar products on the market: Aquafina Alive, Aquafina FlavorSplash, SoBe Lifewater, and Propel Fitness Water. Now, take into account the immensely high sales worldwide of their soda and juice products, not to mention their competitor's similar offerings, just how many beverages are people actually buying / drinking in a day?

Now don't get me wrong, I like a number of their products too, I just find it mind-boggling that there is really that much of a market for ALL these products. I'm going to ponder that while I go quench my thirst the old fashioned way - water from the tap.

Filed under: Drink Recipes, New Products

Drinkable fruit

COMMENTS 0

by Nicole Weston, Posted Apr 5th 2006 @ 1:01PM

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.

Source

Filed under: Ingredients, Drink Recipes, New Products