The Pirate Review

Orangina makes you popular and heals all wounds! Go get some!

The French as a people seem to invoke strong sentiments in most Americans—you either love them (like my sister, who spent nearly two years in the south of France) or despise them (like my father-in-law, who was enraged by the French involvement in the Vietnam War). There are certain traits common to French people that are less than endearing: they are blunt, condescending, highly pragmatic and expect everyone to speak their language. In short, they are much like Americans.

Whether or not you're a francophile, though, you must give the French their due in the area of culinary expertise. France has perfected some of the finest food and drink known to mankind—fantastic breads and pastries, cassoulets, wines and cheeses. In light of this, it's somewhat ironic to realize that one of the most well-known French soft drinks was really invented by a Spaniard.

History
At the Marseille fair of 1936, a Spanish pharmacist named Trigo unveiled his brand-new beverage. Named Naranjina after the Spanish word for "orange," the drink was a concoction of sparkling water, orange juice and pulp. French entrepreneur Léon Beton caught on to the money-making possibilities; he quickly purchased the trademark and concept from Trigo and renamed the drink Orangina. It wasn't long until the distinctive round bottle became familiar all over Algeria, then throughout Europe; however, it wasn't until 1985 that Orangina was available in America, and it's still primarily distributed on the East Coast. If you have a Trader Joe's near you, though, you're halfway to your Orangina fix.

Identifying Orangina
Orangina is an opaque light orange color, with small bubbles and swirly bits of pulp in the bottom. Unlearn everything you've been taught about carbonated beverages; you're supposed to shake your Orangina before drinking it. Orangina comes in four-packs of small, rounded 10 oz. bottles, or larger 1L bottles, both with dark blue labels prominently featuring a stylized orange.

Ingredients
My bottle tells me Orangina contains carbonated water, high fructose corn syrup and/or sugar, orange juice concentrate, pure orange pulp, tangerine juice concentrate and natural orange flavors. It has no artificial coloring or flavoring, no caffeine, and is marked kosher. Happily it lacks the additive so common to U.S. citrus drinks, glycerol ester of wood rosin (it's a resin derived from wood chips, dissolved in an alcohol substance; check your next can of Orange Crush. And just what the hell is WOOD ROSIN doing in my soda, I'd like to know?).

Taste
Orangina is about half as carbonated as most sodas, sweet but not overly so, with a nice citrusy flavor and a lingering, aromatic, slightly bitter aftertaste, like the natural oil from orange peel. The drink has a tendency to grow on you—the first time I tried Orangina, it was tasty enough but didn't really do anything for me; after the third chilled bottle, I was well on my way to becoming an addict.

Price
Prices vary depending on your location. As of this writing, my local Trader Joe's sells 1L bottles of Orangina for $1.89 and four-packs for $2.99, a decent enough price that we almost always pick some up when we're there.

Useless Facts

European markets have a variant called Orangina Rouge, made with blood oranges and guarana extract. The same company (Pernod) also sells Orangina Light, Orangina Plus (an energy drink), Brut de Pomme (an apple-flavored drink), Les Givres (assorted fruit-flavored drinks) and Ricqlès (in lemon-lime, mint and aniseed flavors).
For more information, you can visit the slightly hyperkinetic Orangina Web site.

Now go out and spread the joy that is Orangina. Revel in the cute little round bottle. Shake it up, drink it down. Enjoy!

Even if it's French.