I normally wouldn’t buy the Minute Maid brand of juice concentrates and mixers because they don’t have too much actual juice in them. They seem to fall into the category of “fruit punch”. However, a big store display caught my eye at the market (hey, advertising actually works) and I ended up with a half gallon carton of Minute Maid Limeade Limonada for under 2 bucks.

So, I really dig lime juice mixes, fizzes and anything with lime in it. Minute Maid actually makes an interesting Cherry Limonada as well, in addition to fruit punch and lemonades. The package fairly screams “Made With Real Limes”, but you have to look a little closer to see how MUCH of the juice is made out of limes. After all, you can have a drink that has 3% real lime juice that is Made With Real Limes.

In this case, it is 10% lime juice, which is halfway decent for Minute Maid. They’re all pretty much the “made from concentrate” variety. But here’s something highly interesting. Depending on what version of limeade you get, the percent of lime juice changes. You can get it concentrated in a can, and it’s actually 14% (well, of course you’re going to dilute it). But get it in a 12 oz. soda can type container and it drops to 3%! Same with the 20 oz. and 2 L bottles.

The juice mixture itself has a very tart and refreshing taste. What I liked about it, and this is true of most limeade mixes, is that it isn’t overly sweet. They’ve gotten the balance of sweeteners right, for once. Now if I could just get the manufacturers to stop putting artificial coloring in their juices, everything would be hunky dory.

Juicing Basics Rating: 7 out of 10
Approximate Price: $1.70 for 64 fl. oz.