Fruit facts
What’s the difference between 100% juice, a nectar and a fruit juice drink?
100% juice is fruit juice made from 100% “liquid fruit", i.e. there are no added colourings, preservatives or sugar. However, fruit juice can be made in two different ways. There is "not-from-concentrate” juice, which is bottled after harvesting and stored for later bottling. If it says “made from concentrate” on the packaging, then the water is removed from the freshly pressed juice under vacuum conditions in the country of production. The syrup-like concentrate is then turned into fruit juice by reconstituting it with water.
Some fruits naturally contain so much fruit acidity or fruit pulp that they cannot be sold as 100% fruit juice; they can only be made palatable using water and sugar, which is called fruit nectar. These include black currants, sour cherries and bananas. There is a required minimum fruit content for fruit nectars, which is between 25 and 50%, depending on the type of fruit. Fruit nectar does not contain any colourings or preservatives.
A fruit juice drink on the other hand is primarily a thirst quencher, which is why it needs a higher water content. The fruit in this case mostly serves as a flavouring. Juice with sparkling water is sometimes called a “spritzer”. This drink is made from fruit juice and sparkling mineral water. The initial fruit juice is subject to the same regulations as 100% fruit juice. A good quality apple spritzer has a fruit content of 60%.