I’m told that cranberries are good for me. Apparently they contain unique plant compounds called proanthocyanidins that stop E. coli bacteria from sticking to the walls of the urinary tract, which helps prevent infections. Sounds good.
I also understand that the high antioxidant levels of cranberries help improve blood flow, support healthy blood pressure, and improve cholesterol profiles. Excellent.
Limping around the supermarket this week with my good lady wife (I twisted my ankle slipping on gravel) I spotted a large bottle of what I took to be cranberry juice.
“Look,” I pointed. “Cranberry juice!”
My wife advised me to check the label carefully.
Ah, she’s been here before.
Sure enough, the label was a shock. For this 2.4 litre bottle of dark red liquid was as far away from cranberry juice as you could imagine.
Ok, now – no peeking. What percentage of actual cranberry juice is in each bottle?
Look carefully, this is clearly labeled Cranberry Fruit Drink. It seems obvious cranberries must be the dominant ingredient of this huge bottle of Thexton’s Cranberry Fruit Drink.
I mean, look at the image! Huge juicy cranberries! The green leaf enhances the visual spectacular indicating a strong element of freshness.
Okay, have you picked a number yet (I hope you haven’t peeked).
If you picked 80% you’d be wrong. Yes, it is less than that.
Fifty percent you say. No. A little bit less than that.
Okay, one more guess.
Thirty percent? No, wrong again. Sorry.
The actual amount of cranberry juice is…2.6%.
That’s right. Two point six percent cranberry juice. Here is the full list of ingredients in order of volume with the highest first:
Water, sugar, juices from concentrate (cranberry 2.6%, apple 2.6%), food acid (330), flavour, antioxidant (300), colours (150d, 129), stabiliser (452).
Given the percentage of actual juice is the same for cranberry as apple, I guess it’s only the added colour and flavouring that determines whether the drink is marketed as one or the other.
Each 2.4L bottle is essentially 94% water and cost $3.89 when I saw it on the shelf.
How Thexton’s or any other firm for that matter can offer this liquid to consumers as cranberry fruit drink is beyond me. How can they even use the word ‘fruit’ at all? It’s mainly water with added sugar, artificial colours with a passing glance at a box of cranberries and apples.
But there you have it. Like the slip-slidy gravel in the carpark, this bottle of apparent coloured goodness nearly tripped me up.
It’s a shame really.
