[Maxsmom1]

Hi, I was wondering if anyone knew of a brand of apple juice that is made in the US? all the ones in the store are made China, Argentina, New Zeland etc.. Even the organic ones...Any help would be great. Thank you!

 

[cristeen]

Cost Plus World Market carries a Gravenstein apple juice under their own label that is made in CA. The Trader Joes (house brand) and the WF (North Coast brand) here carry apple juice that is made in CA. If you can find Manzana brand, that's also made here. Generally I only see any of those in the glass gallon jugs outside of the immediate growing area.

Also, check our your local farmer's markets. I can get fresh pressed (raw!) juice year round from the apple growers.

 

[gingerstar]

Indian Summer brand is US made - Michigan, I think. It is our family's favorite.

 

[mamadelbosque]

IDK, we just made a ton of apple cider last year and canned it and have been drinking that all winter...

 

[Periwinkle]

Nearly impossible to tell.

"Made in the US" for something like juice only means the juice factory is in the US, NOT that the apples are sourced from the US. That is true for all prepared/packaged foods, by the way. They can say "Distributed by" or "Made in" or "Packaged in" and functionally, it all means the same thing. I can almost certainly guarantee that any national brand of any fruit product is (sometimes or all the time) using fruit NOT grown in the United States.

 

[Periwinkle]

Quote:

Originally Posted by gingerstar Indian Summer brand is US made - Michigan, I think. It is our family's favorite.

See... this (unfortunatley) underscores my point. Michigan does not produce enough apples to shake a stick at, much less produce a brand of apple juice with. The factory that bottles the juice may be in Michigan, but the apples don't come from there. They only claim to use apples grown in the US "when possible" which basically means when it's no longer apple season here, the apples almost certainly come from China and South America like every other apple juice company uses during this time.

Quote:

Originally Posted by cristeen The Trader Joes (house brand) and the WF (North Coast brand) here carry apple juice that is made in CA.

I'd be shocked if Trader Joe's or Whole Foods brand apple juice was always from US-grown apples. SHOCKED.

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This topic can drive me crazy. You know I just started buying Florida's Natural orange juice (non-organic!) because it's the ONLY brand of orange juice that swears it only uses US-grown oranges and we drink a little orange juice during the Feb-Mar-Apr timeframe when all of our local fruit is long gone and our stores used up, and before the local berries are in season for the vitamin C we need. Otherwise we have no healthy source of vitamin C (though I realize 1/2 cup for mainstream orange juice isn't exactly ideal, this is prime cold/flu season and I need citrus to boost our C intake). Even the organic oranges for juice are coming from South America these days. ARGH. Anyway... welcome to my pain.

 

[cristeen]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Periwinkle I'd be shocked if Trader Joe's or Whole Foods brand apple juice was always from US-grown apples. SHOCKED.

Prepare to be shocked then.

I know the North Coast brand is packed by Manzana, which is in the middle of apple country... dunno whether or not they're bringing in apples - but we were buying (and selling) apple juice from Manzana long before the globalization of these types of things.

But TJ's (it's the Current Crop Gravenstein juice, not the other one) and Cost Plus World Market's both are made from CA grown Gravenstein apples. So far as I know this is the only area that grows Gravenstein apples in any kind of volume.

 

[Periwinkle]

Quote:

Originally Posted by cristeen But TJ's (it's the Current Crop Gravenstein juice, not the other one)

Hmm, well, I didn't get that you were talking about Trader Joe's "Gravenstein" juice specifically... sorry! But here's a question - is that a type of apple juice that they only sell in California? If so, it's awesome they use local apples and put out a small production type apple juice for the shoppers in CA.

But if they sell it nationally, it probably contains apples from other countries... CA is unlikely to produce enough gravensteins to contribute to a national brand of apple juice. Likewise, if the gravenstein apple juice they make is available year-round (even if only available in CA), it still probably contains apples from other countries some of the time.

 

[Sol_y_Paz]

you might need to make it to fit your criteria. Label reading can be deceiving.

 

[Maxsmom1]

Thank you everyone for your replies. It's so fustrating. I was at the store yesterday and double checked all the apple juice just to make sure. That 's it I'm planting apple trees today! Thanks again!

 

[gingerstar]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Periwinkle See... this (unfortunatley) underscores my point. Michigan does not produce enough apples to shake a stick at, much less produce a brand of apple juice with. The factory that bottles the juice may be in Michigan, but the apples don't come from there. They only claim to use apples grown in the US "when possible" which basically means when it's no longer apple season here, the apples almost certainly come from China and South America like every other apple juice company uses during this time.

But my bottle says "Made with American Apples" and also very big on the front "Made from U. S. Apples" Now, I don't want to be naive, but aren't there legal issues - aren't they required to state the source? Wouldn't they be in deep doo-doo by stating that, then using Argentinian apples? I guess what I am getting at is I think they ARE made with American apples - that the quote "Indian Summer Premium Apple Juice and Apple Cider are made from "Fresh U.S. Apples, Not From Concentrate" if at all possible." (from their website) actually means "Not from concentrate if at all possible" as opposed to "from American apples if at all possible" ?

Anyway, OP, Indian Summer Apple Juice, if you can get it, seems to be your best chance of nationally-marketed juice from American apples.

 

[mamadelbosque]

No, I'd take the "if at all possible" to mean both - that its made from US apples when they can, and not from concentrate, when they have fresh apples to make it from. But you could always write them and ask