Cocktails with Orange juice
Orange juice is the fresh-pressed or reconstituted juice of sweet oranges (Citrus sinensis).
How it's used
It brings sweetness, body and aroma and very little acid, so it cannot balance a drink on its own — a Screwdriver is soft because orange juice is soft. At 15 ml it reads as aroma; at 30 and up it becomes a component and starts softening the drink. Fresh juice separates and loses its top notes within the hour, which is why a jug poured at opening tastes tired by mid-service.
Substitutes for Orange juice
Carton or from-concentrate juice replaces fresh one for one; it is flatter in aroma, so taste the drink before serving. Tangerine or mandarin juice also works one for one and is a little sweeter and deeper in color. Blood orange juice tastes similar and turns the drink red. Grapefruit juice is more bitter and noticeably more acidic, so it makes a sharper, different drink; if you use it, add a little syrup.
Orange juice from concentrate
Juice boiled down, then diluted back with water, which costs it most of its volatile aromas.
Blood orange juice
An orange whose flesh is colored red by anthocyanin. The juice's color fades over days, faster at room temperature, so keep it cold.
Storage
Fresh juice keeps a day refrigerated, stirred back together before each pour. Whole oranges keep far longer than a bar will ever need — navel fruit shows no rot for around three months at 5 °C. Juice made from concentrate keeps to its date and never tasted of fresh oranges in the first place.
