It disappeared from shelves in the Lorain area more than a month ago – first the cartons (available at Fligner's) and then the small bottles at Dollar Tree. An online search showed that it had been available at Walmart, but was out of stock.
Since Donald Duck Orange Juice was my favorite, I contacted Florida's Natural Growers, the manufacturer, to ask where I could find it.
A Consumer Affairs representative responded. "Unfortunately, we have discontinued our line of Donald Duck products, including the Donald Duck Orange Juice No Pulp, Donald Duck Orange Juice with Pulp, Donald Duck Orange Juice with Calcium, Donald Duck Apple Juice, Donald Duck Kiwi Strawberry Juice Cocktail and Donald Duck Fruit Punch Juice Cocktail.
"This elimination of Donald Duck products was undertaken in order to focus on our flagship Florida’s Natural brand of juices, lemonades and drinks as well as other existing and emerging brands in our portfolio," she concluded.
Ah, there is no joy in Duckburg tonight.
Anyway, I first wrote about Donald Duck Orange Juice here and here. It had been one of the longest running products featuring a popular, licensed character. Most of all, it tasted good. But for Florida's Natural, eliminating the product was probably a way to save a lot of money.
And so a mighty brand ducks out.
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| In happier times, when a statue of Donald Duck greeted visitors to the orange juice plant |
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Do you start your day with a glass of orange juice? I do, but it wasn't always like that.
When I was a kid, orange juice was something we only had on Sunday mornings, along with a Sara Lee coffee cake or Hough Bakeries küchen. And it was always the frozen, canned variety. But later, after I came home from Ohio State (where we had it every day at breakfast in the dormitory cafeteria), Mom started buying it regularly for me. And she and Dad drank it everyday from then on.
I've had house guests who preferred freshly squeezed (something I only did once in my life). I actually like the concentrate version better myself. As long as the container has a picture of an orange on it, I'll drink it.
Guess I'll have to find another brand now. Hey, maybe I should consider the longtime choice of Der Bingle.
7 comments:
I often enjoyed frozen Minute Maid; I 'd open the can, and eat it like sherbet.
The Quackster at his best...
https://youtu.be/sGM5Apc41e8?feature=shared
I live near the plant here in Florida. They have definitely changed over the years to the point I haven’t bought their products lately. The prices have skyrocketed, the juice is no longer 100% Florida and the packages have gotten smaller. I’ve been sticking with Kroger brand now that we have Kroger here and their brands have a much better value and it tastes pretty good.
When they were first married (for 10 years, before kids came along) my parents spent their winters, in Florida, "living like hoboes" in a second-hand Airstream trailer. They bummed along the coast, fished or shrimped every day, and traded part of their catch for fresh vegetables.
The result of all of this, besides them distaining authority and being slightly hippy-ish well before hippies, was that we never, ever, ever had anything but fresh-squeezed orange juice. Even the juice from "The Big-O" didn't meet their standards.
We had family that lived in Titusville, FL, worked "at the Cape," and sent us crates of fresh citrus fruit every winter. Quite a treat back before you could buy it year-round at any supermarket.
In my dotage I've cut out the middleman. I eat an orange 🍊 every day.
The History channel show "The Food that Built America" just aired an episode on orange juice the other night. It was really interesting!
Even the little statue of Donald is gone from the Florida’s Natural plant on Route 27 in Lake Wales, Florida
Yep, we just drove by and wondered where he went. Now we know. Always looked for Donald. Will miss seeing him up on the roof.
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