Squeeze to Save

Like any typical trini, I love a good, ice-cold glass of freshly squeezed grapefruit juice on one of those scorching days here in trinbago. Not too sweet and just strong enough that I can taste the slight acidity of the grapefruit. Aaaaah!

We grew up drinking a variety of natural juices like orange, lime and lemon, passionfruit, even cashew. These were made at home without the use of any of the sophisticated equipment that we have nowadays.

These days we choose to buy Trinidad Fresh, Orchard, Fruta, Minute Maid, Barefruit. We have developed artificial tastes for artificial products that, "contains real juice".

We live in the tropics, the Caribbean, where fruits are endless and at any time of the year there are at least one or two fruits in season, yet, we choose to drink juices that came from a lab with yellow #5 colouring and this additive or that preservative.

The fruit juice industry is a thriving business, the number of different brands popping up is evidence of that. We, the consumers, are making this business as profitable as it is by turning away from what we grew up doing, what we were used to. And it is costing us financially. Besides being healthier, natural juices can save you a lot of money. Plant a few miniature fruit trees in the yard. What about a cane "patch"?

Local fruits that can be used to make juice include; mango, cashew, barbadine, soursop, tamarind, sorrel, water melon, pommecythere and all the citrus fruits.

When last have you had a glass of natural, unprocessed home-made juice? Don't be afraid to add to my list by commenting below.