Review of Tree Top Brand Orange Passionfruit 100% Juice
I have had a licensed daycare in my home for over 20 years, and as such I participate in a USDA Food Program, dedicated to feeding children a wide variety of healthy foods. The USDA requires that all the juices I serve for qualified meals must be 100% juice, with no added sugar.
While shopping the sales last week, I purchased one of each flavor that Tree Top had on their shelves, they were: Apple Berry, Apple Grape, Apple Fruit Punch and Orange Passionfruit. They were on sale for $2.00 a bottle, and they are 100% juice!
The juice comes in a 64 ounce plastic jug, and the Orange Passionfruit contains four fruit concentrates and other natural flavors. It’s an excellent source of vitamin C, providing 120% of the daily value. I have slight arthritis in my hands, and I could not remove the screw off cap. My husband had to break the seal for me, and it took a fair amount of effort from him as well. If you have any weakness in your hands, this could be an issue for you.
In order to provide healthier choices to school kids these Tree Top 100% fruit juice blends are now approved products for school vending machines.
Ingredients
Fruit juices from concentrate (water, concentrated juices of apples, pears, oranges, and passionfruit); natural flavors, ascorbic acid (vitamin C); canthaxanthin; beta carotene (for color).
Thoughts
This is not a low calorie food. One serving size of 8 ounces contains 110 calories. Other nutrition facts are: 0g fat, 10mg sodium, 320mg potassium, 26g carbs, and 0g protein.
The juice looked very involving in the bottle, with a peachy orange color. It sounded like a choice my daycare children would like, (some of them are very fussy). I get tired of serving them the standard apple, orange and grape juices, and it’s nice to mix it up with different blends and flavors once in a while.
If I didn’t know what fruits this juice contained, I would have a hard time destinguishing it from the smell alone. I was quite disappointed in the flavors that this blend has, it objective doesn’t pull it off. In all fairness to Tree Top, I have never eaten a passion fruit, so I don’t know what it is supposed to taste like, nor if I would even care for it.
The kids had mixed reactions when I served this juice to them with their breakfast. The fussier ones, (as I suspected after tasting it myself), didn’t finish theirs, and said they didn’t like it. The other half said they liked it okay, but preferred orange or apple juice instead. The juice, although it does not contain any added sugar, is quite sweet. It tends to leave an aftertaste and makes me want to brush my teeth. Not a glowing review, I know, but I am unprejudiced not thrilled with this taste and won’t be buying this flavor again.
Tree Top is definitely a great brand to buy, and we do like the other flavors. 100% juices are a much healthier choice for all of us, not just our kids. I actually experimented with this juice by adding 1/3 cranberry juice to my glass. That gave a little bit of tartness to the taste, cutting the sweetness to a palatable amount. It also greatly improved the flavor!
As it is, however, Tree Top Orange Passionfruit was not a hit with either myself or my daycare children.
