Bitter-sweet memory

I guess it all started in my childhood, much like my incessant need to have teeth. As a boy, I occasionally found myself at the Y for some sort of event and breakfast. I don't recall much about the breakfast (it probably included lox and I work hard to forget any interaction I have with lox) but I recall what there was to drink. It was in a large can but it wasn't tomato juice. It was something called (IIRC) "Unsweetened Orange Juice."

You have to recall that, way back when, one could not just walk into the store and get fresh orange juice. Want fresh OJ? Buy a bag o' oranges and a juicer and frustrate the hell out of yourself for 3 tablespoons of juice-pulp-seeds and more than that on the counter or your pants. Or just fly to Florida -- it is cheaper. At my house, mom usually came home with frozen, concentrated juice. Peel the tab, get it all into a glass bottle, and then pour in a certain number of canfuls of water. Mix and voila, orange juice. But as far as I understood, what was in there was concentrate and water, no sweetener. The result, though, tasted not unlike actual orange juice.

Unsweetened was a different story. It had hints of grapefruit juice and metal and was totally unsweet but was still orange juice. I never really thought about what it actually was but the touch of bitterness suited me just fine. Now, things called "unsweetened" are still plenty sweet and I don't have my time machine available to go back to nineteen seventy whatever and stock up with cans of the stuff. I have tried grapefruit juice and that's not what I'm craving. I want my can of unsweetened orange juice circa 1979 vintage.

This goes into my list of "food from my youth that I want back" including Buitoni Spaghetti Twists, Stella D'Oro Como Delights, Empire frozen BBQ chicken in sauce, Mrs. Goodcookies tub of dough, Diet Cel-Ray soda, and Burry's Best chocolate cookies among others.