Not-from-Concentrate (NFC) Juice, Reconstituted Juice, and Nectar: What’s the Difference

Not-from-concentrate (NFC) juice is made straight from fruit: the fruit is pressed, and the juice is usually pasteurized and packaged. Reconstituted juice is made from concentrate: first, part of the water is evaporated from the juice, and then, at the place where the juice is packaged, the water is put back. Nectar is made by adding water to juice or purée, and often sugar or honey as well: its fruit content may be just a quarter to a half, so the fruit flavor is weaker too. You can tell them apart by the name and the ingredient list on the label.

Juice, reconstituted juice, nectar, and juice drinks: at a glance

Direct-pressed juice: straight from the fruit

Direct-pressed juice is what fruit yields under the press. It isn’t concentrated or reconstituted, and to make it keep, it’s usually pasteurized — that is, heated — and sealed in airtight packaging.

That’s exactly the kind of juice we make. We press the apples from our garden and other produce on our own press, each one separately, and we blend and pasteurize the juices right before filling. The ingredient list of our apple juice reads “100% direct-pressed apple juice.” The sweetness in our juices comes from the fruit itself: we don’t add sugar.

Reconstituted juice and concentrate

Concentrated juice is made by evaporating part of the water from juice. Concentrate takes up less space and is convenient to store and transport, and it mostly ends up as the raw material for reconstituted juices and nectars. When potable water is added back to it, the result is reconstituted juice, or juice from concentrate. The aroma that escapes with the steam during concentration may be restored — with aromatic substances from the same kind of fruit.

In terms of composition, reconstituted juice is still juice: no sugar is added to it. What sets it apart is its path to the glass: the juice is concentrated, the concentrate is stored and shipped, and then it’s diluted with water again and packaged.

Nectar and juice drinks: how they fall short of juice

Nectar is made by diluting juice or purée with water, and sugar or honey is often added. As a result, there’s less fruit in the glass than in juice, and part of the sweetness comes from added sugar. Nectar is usually a quarter to a half juice or purée, and the rest is water, often with sugar or honey (up to 10–20% of the drink’s weight); direct-pressed juice contains nothing but the juice of the fruit.

A juice drink contains even less juice: it’s water with a share of juice, to which sugar, acid, and flavorings are often added. Only the ingredient list shows exactly how much juice it contains.

Direct-pressed juice and fresh juice

Fresh juice, or freshly squeezed juice, is made in a juicer right before serving and isn’t heated. It isn’t meant to be stored: fresh juice is drunk right away. Direct-pressed juice starts the same way — at the press — but then it’s pasteurized and filled into airtight packaging. As long as the package is unopened, this juice keeps for months; exactly how long is printed on the label.

Homemade juice put up for winter is essentially direct-pressed juice too: it’s heated and poured hot into jars. The article on apple juice for winter explains how to do this with apples.

How to choose natural juice: what to read on the label

By “natural,” people mostly mean direct-pressed juice. Four things on the label help you tell it apart:

1. The product name. “Juice,” “nectar,” and “drink” aren’t marketing words but the names of different products: nectar can’t be called juice. Look at the name, not at the picture of fruit.
2. “Not from concentrate” or “reconstituted.” Juice from concentrate is labeled with the words “reconstituted” or “from concentrate”; if it has been mixed with direct-pressed juice, that is stated too.
3. The fruit share in nectar. It’s given next to the name as “fruit content” in percent: the lower the number, the more water the nectar contains.
4. The blend’s composition. In juice made from several kinds of produce, the share of each is stated, as on the label of our apple-beetroot juice: “85% direct-pressed apple juice, 15% direct-pressed beetroot juice.”

You can check all of this on our box: the ingredient list is printed on the side panel — only direct-pressed juices and the share of each.

Direct-pressed juices, 3 L — apple juice and apple-based blends. The minimum order is two boxes, and you can mix flavors. We deliver via Nova Poshta and Ukrposhta across Ukraine and ship within 1–2 business days. Our article “Fresh Apple Juice: How We Make It” explains how we make our juices, and “Juice in a Bag-in-Box with a Tap” covers how to open the box and how long it keeps.
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