Fruits
Orange Juice in gelato
Orange juice is a high-water fruit ingredient (about 88% water, 8-9% sugars) used to flavor citrus sorbetti and fruit gelati. It supplies sweetness and freezing-point depression but essentially no fat, milk solids or protein.
Balancing parameters
Per 100 g of product, verified against independent food-science sources (listed below).
| Parameter | Value |
|---|---|
| Total Solids | 11.7% |
| Water | 88.3% |
| Sugars | 8.4% |
| Fat | 0.2% |
| MSNF | 0% |
| Protein | 0.7% |
| POD (sweetening power) | 9.4 |
| PAC (anti-freezing power) | 12.2 |
Typical use: About 25-40% of the mix in orange sorbetto, frequently combined with zest or a small amount of concentrate.
Balance orange juice in a real recipe
Free balancer · no signup wall · watch PAC, POD and Total Solids update live as you add it.
Open the balancerHow to use it in gelato
Fresh orange juice carries roughly 8.4g sugars per 100g, split about glucose 2 / fructose 2.3 / sucrose 4.1, so per 100g of product it adds about 12 units of PAC and 9 of POD. Because monosaccharides (glucose plus fructose) make up nearly half the sugar, juice depresses the freezing point more strongly than its sweetness alone implies, giving a softer, more scoopable sorbet. Its high water content (about 88%) dilutes total solids, so pair it with dextrose, a little concentrate or reduced added water to hit a balanced sorbetto solids target. Use it as the flavor base of orange sorbetto, often with zest.
Origin & background
Orange juice comes from the sweet orange (Citrus sinensis), a hybrid domesticated in southern China and Southeast Asia and carried to the Mediterranean by the 15th century. Modern industrial orange juice dates to the 1940s: frozen concentrated orange juice (FCOJ) was developed at the University of Florida's Citrus Research and Education Center and patented in 1948, turning a perishable fruit into a global commodity.
Frequently asked questions
Sources
- USDA FoodData Central, Orange juice, raw (FDC ID 169098) — https://fdc.nal.usda.gov/food-details/169098/nutrients
- Sugar Composition Analysis of Commercial Citrus Juice Products, Proc. Florida State Horticultural Society — https://journals.flvc.org/fshs/article/download/106057/101709
- USDA-derived per-100g summary (Orange juice, raw 169098): water 88.3, sugars 8.4, protein 0.7, fat 0.2 — https://www.nutritionvalue.org/Orange_juice%2C_raw_169098_nutritional_value.html