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Hi guys,

today I want to show nothing spectacular, but I have never seen before a pouch of SWEETENED INSTANT GRAPE JUICE. I bought eight packs at ebay.de for 1,00 EURO (about 1,38 USD) . I guess it is component of any group ration. See the photos:

Closed pouch of SWEETENED INSTANT GRAPE JUICE packed by JIANAS BROTHERS PACKAGING COMPANY, front side


Closed pouch of SWEETENED INSTANT GRAPE JUICE packed by JIANAS BROTHERS PACKAGING COMPANY, back side


Code "JBP 2012 4": JIANAS BROTHERS PACKAGING, January 12, 2012


Instant juice powder filled in a drinking glass, beside the freeze dried grape juice concentrate you can see some granulated sugar


The reconstituted beverage (according to the instructions with 8 ounces of cold water): Nice dark red color with a little bit of foam




It tasted like real grape juice , but it was very, very sweet and also a little bit sour !

mreheater72

Nice.
It looks it has a lot of maltodextrin and 25g of sugar.
Enough to keep you hyped up for a while.

Cool find - been looking for these and the orange juice that seem to only come with the UGR breakfast loadouts. I had wondered whether or not they "enhanced" it so thank you for filling in that gap - looks like they do. 71% juice is better than some of the kids' stuff you see at the grocery store these days though

Hey Mreheater, i finally found something similar to your neat instant grape juice blend. Mine is in a sealed can & makes a half gallon of grape juice. It's made in Plant City, Florida, 20 minutes from where i live. I've yet to take pictures of the grape juice, but i took pictures of the orange juice can that makes 1 whole gallon of OJ.
The OJ is delicious. It is essentially freeze dried orange juice from concentrate.
here are a couple pictures.

Cool pics! Steve, I remember those cans too. I think they were supplied in some of the older UGR's; pre-Poly Tray era of course, so metal Tray Ration era. Dates are probably from the early 1990's on those I would venture to guess.

Great review Steve.. That grape juice looks like as if came from a glass jar of Made In California Welch's grape juice.
Interesting packet shape for USA

I have seen the name JIANAS BROTHERS PACKAGING COMPANY on something else. I have to research my MRE powdered components. Could be Powdered Chocolate drink.

I wonder if this grape juice is any better than what my cousin had in Vietnam. I recall him telling me that when guys would get "blocked up" from the MCIs, they'd drink the grape juice and within a couple hours.....I don't recall having issues with any grape juice from the UGRs in the early 1990s, but then I preferred orange anyway.

Does the Juice, Orange, Instant have the consistency and taste of actual orange juice or more like Tang/orange "drink"? If the former, that'd be a life saver for making Screwdriver cocktails in the deep brush!

This Orange Juice was really good, folks! It was literally as good as freeze dried orange juice could get if you ask me. Reminded me of the OJ you get at a contenental breakfast at a Hotel.
Apocalypse, this stuff is exactly what ya want for your Screwdrivers. I will keep my eye out for 1 or 2 of em' for ya around here. Besides, I live about 15 minutes from Plant City where these were made.

I have the Grape Juice one still to open but I somehow managed to leave it along with a few other great Rations (like a UGR 24 CT of White Choc & Cranberry Cookies) at a place that may be tricky getting back to for the time being. I have stuff lying around at friend's places and sometimes I go back and the stuff grows legs. More times than not it's right where I left it.

Oh, and the Orange Juice tastes really tangy and sweet without water - it makes my mouth water thinking about it.. ooohh man I loved that stuff.

This stuff in the can really reminds me if you took a fruit square FD and collected all that sugary powder at the bottom of the pack from like a thousand or 2 and had it in a can. That's this stuff.

Freeze Dried Nectar of the Gods. heheh ok that was awful.

I will share the Grape one as soon as I get a chance, fellas!

Again, a big thankyou to MREheater starting the thread on this - that Grape Juice from Jianas Bros looks like Grape Wine or something! With that Maltodextrin, I'll bet it was quite the energy boost!


Jianas Bros has been making drink mixes of various kinds for the US military for at least 20 years. I have 1989 Rafco Freeze Dried RCW Cocoa Mix by Jianas, that company made Dairy Shakes, Cocoa, I think the Sports Drinks (Sugar Bombs) and maybe even the Cappuccinos. I have to re-confirm but I am almost certain they do most of the MRE Drink Mixes.
They must have quite the operation setup in their main factory - picture a huge vat full of Cocoa Mix - I'll bet it smells like a heavenly combo of Cocoa & Hydrogenated Oils.

steve1989 wrote:...
Apocalypse, this stuff is exactly what ya want for your Screwdrivers. I will keep my eye out for 1 or 2 of em' for ya around here. Besides, I live about 15 minutes from Plant City where these were made.
...

That would be excellent! I have IMPs to trade.