Orange Sourcing and Production Challenges
🍊 US orange juice production relies primarily on Florida and California, benefiting from warm sunshine and seasonal rainfall.
📉 Florida's orange juice production has dropped by 75% since 2005 due to hurricanes and citrus greening disease.
🌎 To meet demand, many companies import oranges, with Brazil being the world's top exporter for juice oranges; most 100% OJ is a blend of US and Brazilian supply.

Orange Varieties and Ripeness Indicators
☀️ Commercial juice primarily uses Valencia (70% of juice crops) and Hamlin oranges to ensure year-round supply via different harvest cycles.
⏳ Valencia oranges take 12–15 months to ripen (harvested March through September), while Hamlin oranges ripen faster in 7–8 months (harvested October through January).
🔬 Orange ripeness for juicing is measured using a refractometer to ensure the juice has at least a 10% sugar content (Brix percentage).
🟢 The color of the peel (green vs. orange) is determined by nighttime temperatures, not actual ripeness; full-sized green oranges are ready for juicing.

Harvesting and Initial Processing
🚜 For large-scale production, harvester machines use vibrating arms to drop ripe oranges onto conveyor systems, which transfer them into collection vehicles called "goats."
💨 These harvesters can process up to two tons per minute or over two million oranges daily.
🚚 Harvested oranges are transported in gondolas holding up to 120,000 oranges, which can yield roughly 2,700 gallons of fresh OJ.
💧 Oranges are washed using water and an alkaline solution followed by scrubbing brushes before entering the factory.

Juicing and Byproduct Utilization
🔬 Factory samples are tested for Brix level, color, and quality; juice with sugar content above 11.5% is prioritized for concentrate.
⚙️ Extractors slice oranges in half, pressing them against a cone-shaped reamer, with some factories handling 800 oranges per minute.
♻️ Empty peels are ground into a fibrous mix and sent to be used as cattle feed.
🧪 Essential oils are extracted from the peels using a centrifuge until they reach 99% purity for use in flavoring, cosmetics, or aromatherapy.

Juice Preservation and Preparation
💨 Concentrate juice has about 80% of its water content removed via evaporators and is then frozen into "ice tubes."
🌡️ Single strength juice undergoes flash pasteurization: heated to 185° F then rapidly cooled to 35° F to maintain quality without additives.
💾 Pasteurized juice can be stored in 1 million-gallon refrigerated tanks for up to 2 years with minimal flavor degradation.
👅 Before bottling, multiple samples are tested in the lab for quality metrics including acidity, Brix level, aroma, color, and taste.

Pulp Rework and Bottling
🔄 Extracted pulp is blended back into select batches in a rework tank, allowing for customized levels ranging from "some pulp" to "lots of pulp", and a pulp-free option.
♨️ Bottles are shaped by blow molding preforms heated by infrared light, then filled with juice at 176° F.
🧪 After filling, bottles are turned on their side to use the hot liquid to sterilize the neck area and inner cap.
📦 Labeled bottles are grouped and sent through a shrink tunnel before being cellophane-wrapped around pallets for stable transport.

Key Points & Insights
➡️ Florida's orange production has severely declined by 75% due to environmental factors and disease, shifting reliance to imports like Brazil.
➡️ To ensure continuous flow, commercial juice production alternates between Valencia (summer peak) and Hamlin (winter peak) oranges.
➡️ The ripeness standard is based on sugar content (Brix $\geq 10\%$) measured by a refractometer, as peel color is solely dictated by temperature.
➡️ Nearly all commercial juice undergoes flash pasteurization ($185^\circ \text{F}$ then cooled to $35^\circ \text{F}$) or is reduced to a frozen concentrate.

📸 Video summarized with SummaryTube.com on Jan 13, 2026, 07:15 UTC