Finding good Aloe Vera juice can be an uphill battle. You can often find it pure, but if it hasn’t been decolorized then it’s not good for everyday use. Plus, there’s the taste factor to consider. With that in mind, is Trader Joe’s Aloe Vera juice decolorized? How does it taste?
Trader Joe’s Aloe Vera Juice drink is decolorized and this is for safety purposes. Aloe juice contains aloins in varying amounts and concentrations of these can upset your stomach and have other detrimental effects. By decolorizing the product and adding a little natural grape flavor, Joe’s produces a 95% pure aloe drink that’s safe to ingest daily and tastes delicious.
In today’s article, we’re going to shine the spotlight on this Trader Joe’s offering to give you the information that you need to decide if Trader Joe’s Aloe Vera juice drink is the right aloe juice for you. Let’s get started and you can see for yourself!
Decolorized Aloe Vera Juice
When you hear ‘decolorized’, it makes the product sound less natural, but there’s a little more to it than that.
To better understand why decolorization is part of the refinement process, let’s look at the definition and benefits associated with this process.
Definition of Decolorized Aloe Vera Juice
Aloe Vera juice contains aloins, which are considered irritants where your digestive system is concerned. As it has also been associated with cancers in animals that ingested it in laboratory stories, a process has been developed to reduce or fully remove them in order to make aloe juice ingestion safe.
Without it, even one juice might make you feel a little sick to your stomach, so decolorization is actually a very good thing and something you should look for when purchasing aloe juice to drink.
Benefits of Decolorized Aloe Vera Juice
Decolorization allows you to enjoy the benefits of Aloe Vera juice without experiencing stomach upset or a risk of toxicity.
On it’s own, raw Aloe is suitable for topical use, but ingestion is a different thing altogether. Our stomachs simply aren’t suited for raw ingestion of these desert plants on a regular basis.
Thus, decolorization is simply a means of making this plant juice potable.
Trader Joe’s Aloe Vera Juice
Trader Joe’s Aloe Vera Juice is a 95% pure aloe vera juice that includes natural grape flavor that anyone who has tried natural aloe will definitely appreciate.
It makes the beverage tastier and more refreshing, and the cold pressed, decolorized aloe is safe for everyday ingestion.
Research on the Ingredients in Trader Joe’s Aloe Vera Juice
Research indicates that the ingredients of Trader Joe’s Aloe Vera juice include organic aloe vera powder, organic aloe vera gel, mineral water, pure cane sugar, and natural grape flavors. It has approximately 60 calories per serving, as well.
Findings on the Decolorization of Trader Joe’s Aloe Vera Juice
For safety, this FDA approved product is decolorized during production to reduce the number of aloins present in the finished beverage.
Alternative Aloe Vera Juice Options
If you are looking alternatives, there is certainly no shortage of aloe vera juice products. In this section, we’ll briefly discuss alternative stores and online retailers that carry competitive offerings.
Other Grocery Stores
Stores such as Safeway and Walmart carry their own aloe vera juice lines, with Wal Mart being the most competitive with Trader Joe’s offerings. In particular, Wal Mart’s Faraon Aloe Vera drink is only $3.57 for a 1.5 liter bottle, but it is at a much lower purity of 8%.
Online Retailers
Online retailers such as Erbology offer their own Aloe Vera juices as well. Theirs is around $15 for an 8.5 ounce bottle and it is NOT decolorized, so the recommended serving is either 2 teaspoons consumed directly on a daily basis, or added to the beverage of your choice.
Homemade Aloe Vera Juice Recipe
In order to make Aloe Vera juice, you must first extract the aloe vera gel. This is done by cutting a leaf into 2 inch sections, discarding the pointy end.
Take the leaves and place them in water for 2-3 minutes, in order to release a good amount of the aloins from the leaves before we being.
Once this is done, give the leaves a good rinse, and pat them dry on a paper towel. Cut the sharp, pointy ridges off of the edges of the leaves, and then you will need to use a sharp knife to carefully remove the rind.
This will leave you with 2 inch chunks that display a clear gel, which you need to scoop out carefully and move into a sterilized jar that you can seal or into an ice tray to freeze.
Be careful only to get the gel, not any yellow or green remainders from the rind removal – it should all be crystal-clear.
Once you have the gel, making the juice is easy. Simply place a 2 inch gel square and ¼ cup of water or juice into a blender, blend well, and serve!
Frequently Asked Questions
How Do You Decolorize Aloe Vera?
Decolorization, from a production standpoint, is typically accomplished by grinding raw aloe leaves and treating the juice with activated charcoal to effectively reduce the aloin content to safe levels for human consumption.
How Do You Make Decolorized Aloe Vera Juice?
Making Aloe vera juice decolorized at home may be done on a very mild extent through soaking, however, to more effective remove an appreciable amount of aloins then activated carbon filtration will be required.
How Do You Get the Yellow Substance Out of Aloe Vera?
This may be done with a 2-3 minute soak in water, or you could place the leaf upright for approximately 10 minutes, after which time the yellow aloin should move to the base of the leaf and slowly drain.
Final Thoughts
Today we’ve taken a closer look at Trader Joe’s Aloe Vera juice and while it is decolorized, this is by design so that you can ingest it without any special preparation or dilution.
As far as purity, it is 95%, with mineral water, pure cane sugar, and natural grape flavors added to make it more palatable.
If you are looking for an aloe vera juice drink that doesn’t taste like you just picked it, then the high percentage of aloe and the great taste might just make this your aloe drink of choice! Just don’t forget that you can always make it at home with our handy homemade aloe juice recipe!
