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People have made fruit juice since ancient times.
Romans pressed grapes into wine, while Aztecs squeezed agave in the broad span of the history of fruit juice.
Today, machines extract juice from oranges, apples, and other fruits in factories worldwide.
Ancient Romans pressed pomegranates until their seeds split and released deep red juice.
In Greece, merchants sold fresh figs by the basket, their purple flesh split and dripping with natural syrup.
Indian healers crushed fruits into medicinal pastes.
A specific passage in the Dead Sea Scrolls describes a healer's recipe: "Take the flesh of pomegranate and fig, pound them together until they form a smooth paste, and consume this mixture to build strength in the limbs."
This text, written on parchment between 250 BCE and 100 CE, preserves one of our earliest recorded fruit remedies.
These cultures noticed how certain fruits stayed fresh longer than others, how they provided energy, and how their regular consumption seemed to promote health.
Merchants in 12th century Damascus and Baghdad mixed crushed pomegranates, lemons, and tamarinds with honey to create sharbat—the predecessor to modern fruit sodas.
The drink makers pressed fresh fruit through cotton cloths, catching every drop of juice in brass bowls.
They stirred in thick date syrup until the mixture balanced sweet and tart notes perfectly.
By 1300, Italian traders were loading barrels of these concentrated fruit syrups onto ships bound for Venice and Genoa.
In 1869, dentist Thomas Welch crushed Concord grapes in his kitchen and heated the juice to kill bacteria, creating the first shelf-stable grape juice.
His method prevented fermentation, keeping the natural grape sugars intact rather than converting them to alcohol.
He called his product "Dr. Welch's Unfermented Wine" and sold it first to churches seeking non-alcoholic communion wine.
This pasteurization technique sparked America's commercial juice industry.
In 1893, California citrus growers formed the Southern California Fruit Exchange, which later became Sunkist.
Between 1907 and 1910, the cooperative launched a $14,000 advertising campaign that made oj a popular daily American beverage.
Their print ads appeared in Ladies' Home Journal and Good Housekeeping, featuring doctors who endorsed orange juice as a source of vitamin C and essential minerals.
Billboards across major cities showed families drinking orange juice at breakfast.
Orange juice consumption jumped from 8 million gallons in 1920 to 160 million gallons in 1940.
In 1952, Norman Walker created the Champion Juicer, helping people make juice at home.
The machine crushed fruits and vegetables between metal gears that spun at 1,725 rotations per minute.
This grinding action squeezed out the juice, but it also generated friction that heated the liquid to temperatures between 120-140°F (49-60°C).
Scientists later discovered that these high temperatures broke down specific proteins called enzymes that aid digestion.
In 1974, juice bars began appearing in Southern California strip malls.
Dave Otto opened the first Original Juice Bar in Manhattan Beach, selling fresh-squeezed orange juice and blended fruit drinks for $1.50.
Within three years, similar businesses sprouted across Los Angeles and San Diego counties, serving carrot juice, wheat grass shots, and apple-celery blends to waiting customers.
The typical juice bar occupied 800 square feet, featuring a counter with three industrial Vitamix blenders, stainless steel juice presses, and glass refrigerators stocked with produce.
Customers could watch as workers transformed raw carrots into bright orange juice or combined bananas, strawberries, and protein powder into thick smoothies.
Many patrons adopted daily juice routines, spending $15-20 per week on fresh-pressed drinks.
By 1979, California had over 200 dedicated juice bars.
The movement spread as entrepreneurs copied Otto's model, opening stores in health-conscious neighborhoods from Berkeley to Santa Monica.
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