Fix Overly Sweet Fruit Juice With Apple Cider Vinegar
I don’t really like fruit juice unless it’s mixed with gin, but my partner (who doesn’t drink gin or anything like that) is a fan of it. He often buys juice for me, drinks a little, and leaves the rest for me to drink or ignore until he comes back. So I ended up with a POG box in my fridge.
I like POG with rum (and lime) or Campari (and lime), but this morning I drank some juice for the first time in a long time. It was good, but much sweeter than I remember. This was disappointing as I was looking forward to a refreshing, sweet but tart beverage as a breakfast treat.
It was obvious that the missing ingredient was acid, and while lemon and lime would surely fix that, they also change the profile of the juice, bringing in their own flavor. If you want to increase the acidity and sweetness of your juice without distracting it from the original taste, use apple cider vinegar.
While apple cider vinegar has a flavor, apple cider flavor is already present in most mixed juices, so it pairs well. (There’s a reason apple juice is often used as a base for juice “shakes” that don’t have much. Well, an apple.) You don’t need much — start with the tiniest splash, maybe an eighth teaspoon. The fruity, slightly funky vinegar exhibits any sugary qualities, complementing the sweeter aspects of the drink without overshadowing it. This is the same juice you bought in the store, only slightly better.