Learning about the Story of Citrus: Florida's Natural Visitor
Center
One of the things that Florida is known for is, you guessed it,
is orange juice! The citrus industry has been playing a big role
in Central Florida for many decades, and considering its
importance, I wanted to learn a bit more about it.
So with the help of the Orlando Visitors and Convention Bureau I
was able to locate "Florida's Natural Growers", a
citrus-processing cooperative that produces the well-known
"Florida's Natural" brand of juices. The cooperative was founded
in 1933 and today more than 1000 independent growers are part of
this cooperative processing and marketing organization.
Florida's Natural operates a 540 acre fruit processing center in
Lake Wales, about an hour south of Orlando. They are now the
largest employer in the Lake Wales area. The facility also
offers a visitor center which educates tourists on the history
of Florida's citrus industry, and the science and processes
behind citrus juice production.
I first viewed a 10 minute video which provided a very good
overview of Central Florida's citrus industry. The
organizational structure of Florida's Natural is quite
interesting as well since it is not a corporately owned juice
company like Minute Maid or Tropicana (owned by Coca-Cola and
Pepsi Co. respectively), but rather it is a cooperative of local
farmers that share in the production of the fruit and the juice.
Florida's Natural prides itself in doing things a little
differently from the big juice companies and its unique nature
is reflected in its motto:
- We own the land - We own the fruit - We own the company
Orange cultivation was originally introduced by the Spaniards
several centuries ago. Grafting resulted in stronger and more
resistant trees which produced fruit in 3 years instead of 15
years. Fruits are still picked by hand, put into containers,
which are boxed and shipped by truck to the processing plant.
A variety of quality control processes are applied and fruit is
washed and separated by size by grading inspectors. About 95% of
Florida's orange harvest goes to juice production. Florida's
Natural extractor machines can handle about 13 million pounds of
oranges every 24 hours. Once the fruit has been squeezed, a
so-called finisher removes the seeds. Then the juice is
flash-pasteurized and packaged.
The key thing about Florida's Natural products is that they are
not made from concentrate, but rather contain only pure
unsweetened fruit juice. Different varieties of orange juice are
stored and blended in order to ensure that the taste is
consistent throughout the different harvests during the year.
The organization prides itself that its juice is as close to the
grove as you can get and it is the fastest growing
not-from-concentrate brand. Florida's Natural 64 ounce cartons
are shipped all over the globe.
In addition to juice, every part of the orange is used to
produce other products, such as orange oil, for example, while
seeds and peel are processed into cattle feed. Florida's Natural
growers also believe in wildlife conservation and have created
wildlife habitat areas while employing various methods for
reducing water usage.
In addition to the video screening theater, the Visitor Center
houses a gift shop in the front and a walk-through display area
that provides information about various themes, including
weather, the history of the citrus industry, the history of
citrus juice packaging, two display panels on the indigenous
species of wildlife, as well as a variety of classic orange
juice advertising posters.
When I was done with the educational part of the Visitor Center
I explored the Gift Shop where I found all sorts of souvenirs
and citrus-related presents, including citrus-scented candles,
jams, marmalades, creams, t-shirts, books, hats, everything you
can imagine with a citrus theme. I picked up some
orange-flavoured (and orange-shaped) Whetstone Chocolates as
treats for my friends at home.
I also got to taste free samples of 4 varieties of juices which
represent a good cross-section of Florida's Natural product
line, which includes different types of orange juice (with
varying degrees of pulp and some with additions of vitamins or
calcium), ruby red grapefruit juice, apple juice, cranberry
apple cocktail, lemonade, raspberry lemonade, and lemonade ice
tea.
Dropping by the Visitor Center at Florida's Natural was a great
introduction to one of the most important industries in Florida
and gave me a real appreciation of everything that goes into
producing that healthy, refreshing glass of orange juice that I
enjoy in the morning.