The OTHER Orange Juice

Wednesday, February 08, 2006

Have I mentioned before I'm an idiot? I probably have, but if you missed it, I'll own up again now: I'm an idiot.

I'm judgmental. I don't mean to be, but sometimes I am. Sometimes I see something and just leap to a conclusion, throwing logic and/or common sense off the cliff. The cliché tells us to never judge a book by its cover. And sometimes, we do, don't we?

Okay, okay, I won't rope you into this. I'M the idiot here, so I won't pawn it off on you. After all, maybe you knew about carrot juice.

Huh?

Yeah, you read me right. Carrot Juice. For me, it's the new orange juice. Well, ha ha ha, that's funny. It's orange. I get it, Rich. Yeah, well it's true. I like orange juice. But a few months ago, for no good reason but to be adventurous, I tried carrot juice. And I did so despite having previously carried an unnatural (and uninformed, illogical) aversion to it. Why? Well...it was ORANGE. It looks like liquid rust, fer crying out loud. So I figured it would taste...yucky. I know, I KNOW, this doesn't make sense. I started out with the idiot thing remember? Cut me a little slack.

My friend Jim LOVED his juicer, he would juice nearly anything. (But then, Jim also ate canned pumpkin for a year in college, and I kid you not, his skin turned orange...this is NOT a lie for a funny blog, this moment is absolutely true...Jim began to turn orange). Yeah canned pumpkin and carrot juice are far from the same thing, but there's a connection there...and not just the orange thing. Orange juice is orange, and so is carrot juice. Yes, thank you, I’m aware. Well carrot juice is a much darker orange. And I grew up drinking orange juice because it was made from oranges and has some sort of monopoly on the color because it’s the name too. I don’t know how a fruit got a trademark on a color too, but I want Orange's agent. Anyway, carrots, while also orange, are not oranges and therefore not Orange Juice. Had my parents made me drink carrot juice as a child, I may not have ever had this problem.

People pay good money to drink wheatgrass. They say it's super healthy (and I've heard it tastes so bad they order it with an orange juice chaser). Okay, maybe it's just me, but I don't want to drink anything that I'm going to need to drink something ELSE to "chase" away the taste. Maybe that's why I shied away from the idea of non-mainstream juices. I like orange juice, apple juice, pineapple juice, grape juice. But those are fruits. So the idea of drinking VEGETABLE juice...that just sounds wrong.

I've never been one to eat really healthy, though I'm trying to change that. And aside from the vegetable thing, carrot juice just sounded healthy. Sure I love carrots, I eat them all the time. Great snack! I even like carrot cake, had one at my wedding. But carrot JUICE? Ummmmmm, NO. It just LOOKED gross.

But I tried it...turns out, I'm an idiot. Turns out, carrot juice....tastes just like carrots. I love carrots! Turns out, I love carrot juice, too. Who’da thunk it?

It's sweet too, and I wondered today if they added sugar to it. That wouldn't surprise me, but it's supposed to be healthy, so who knows. So I pulled my carton of Naked Juice from the fridge and right there on the front it says "No Sugar Added." Huh. I wondered what was in it that made it have that sweet taste. I turned the carton around, and had to once again call myself an idiot.

"Ingredients: Carrots."

Well...whaddaya know. Keep it simple, stupid.

So even though I rarely buy Orange Juice these days, I'm still regularly buying AN orange juice...made from carrots. Yeah, I'm still trying to wrap my head around that too.

Cheers!

Here are some comments posted on the original blog:

Posted by VP on Feb 10, 2006 9:35 AM

You really are an idiot. I drank tomato juice once, thinking it was Kool-Aid. THAT was a big disappointment.

Posted by Christi on Feb 10, 2006 9:36 AM

Wheatgrass = the pinnacle of disgusting tasting juices. Don't even get me started on V8! And I'm telling you - if you like carrot juice, you MUST go to Cafe Bisou and try the Carrot Rosemary Soup. To DIE for.

Posted by DenovoMo on Mar 14, 2007 7:59 PM

Just out of curiosity, do you happen to know what looney tune...I mean ..who thought to juice wheatgrass? Carrots are available in the produce aisle, but if we have to go to the feedstore on the shelf next to the bunny pellets, I'd imagine that's a bit of a stretch for our palates! (of course, I don't live in S. CA either, so I may be WAAAAY behind the cuisine times...that's ok, I'll stay under my rock.)

Posted by Mark Lee on Mar 18, 2007 12:27 PM

I love the idea of you, an eyebrow raised, turning the carton around to investigate this strange elixer that you'd thought would be repulsive. I can see the inner workings of you mind: "If it says carrot juice but it tastes good, then there must be something else in there..."

[Editor's Note: "Exactly." - Rich ]

Posted by Kelly on Mar 20, 2007 6:24 PM

funny thing, I was in Starbucks today and saw that they had carrot juice in the cooler...totally thought for a minute about buying it but stopped because I thought carrot juice would be gross. Thank you my friend for opening my judgemental eyes :)

I am still going to order my venti, non-fat, sugar free vanilla, extra-hot latte and a cranberry oat bar...because carrot juice is just gross...

weirdo...