In the apple juice test by Stiftung Warentest, cheap products in particular are convincing. The test winner costs only around 1 euro per liter and is available from discounters.
If you want to drink good quality apple juice, you don’t have to spend more than one euro per liter. Should it also taste really good, the price sometimes increases several times over. This is a key result of an apple juice test by Stiftung Warentest (issue 3/22).
26 products were drunk and analyzed, including 16 naturally cloudy not-from-concentrate juices and 10 juices from concentrate. The bottom line was that only six were rated “good” – all naturally cloudy juices. In the overall assessment, apple juice from concentrate was at best “satisfactory”. However, three naturally cloudy juices received the grades “sufficient” or “poor”, including two products with the organic seal.
However, the testers did not classify any juice in the field as being harmful to health. They also did not find the mold toxin patulin in any of the products, unlike tests in 2009 and 2004.
The test winner in the overall rating is the cheap discounter apple juice from Lidl: with the overall rating “good” (grade 2.2), the Solevita premium direct juice apple naturally cloudy (EUR 0.99 per liter) and the apple juice naturally cloudy from Wesergold (1.87 euros per liter) ahead of the competition. Third place was awarded the rating “good” (grade 2.3) for Edeka’s naturally cloudy apple juice, which is also cheap (EUR 0.99 per liter). They also score “well” on the chemical quality of the juices.
The testers determined the best taste for the organic apple juice from van Nahmen orchards. Overall, the juice scores “good” (grade 2.3). At 3.95 euros per liter (for price comparison), it is also the most expensive in the test and is only “satisfactory” in terms of chemical quality.
The test also shows a strong trend: out of 16 tested apple juices made from not-from-concentrate juice, at least six products did “good”. The situation is different with the tested apple juices made from apple juice concentrate. Not a single juice scores “well” here.
Well-known brands such as Albi and Granini only score “sufficient” with their juices made from apple juice concentrate. Alnatura fails with the grade “poor” with its own Demeter juice made from direct juice.
But: Why is the cloudy juice better now? Because it contains more polyphenols – secondary plant substances. Studies by the Max Rubner Institute – Federal Research Institute for Nutrition and Food – have shown that naturally cloudy apple juice can prevent early forms of colon cancer.
In addition, according to the testers, direct apple juice has a slightly better ecological footprint than juice made from concentrate. However, only if the processed apples come from German cultivation. The laboratory analyzes confirmed that the indications of origin on the packaging of the test candidates were correct.
You can read the detailed test report with all the results for a fee at test.de.
The original of this article “Discounter apple juice wins at Stiftung Warentest” comes from chip.de.
