O.N.E. Cashew Fruit Drink

Did you know that cashew nuts actually grow attached to a fruit? (Well, to be picky, a pseudo-fruit...but we'll get to that). Well, I didn't! As far as I knew, they were birthed by little blue cardboard containers...but apparently that is not the case. Oh well.

To break down a whole lot of information that I am sure Alton Brown would find fascinating (and could explain far better), the cashew nuts that we all know and love are actually the main fruit of the tree they grow on -- the Anacardium occidentale -- which we are going to be lazy and simply call "the tree." The cashew itself grows in a double shell, and once the cashew has gotten past its "rotten teenager" stage but is not quite a ripe "wise adult," the bottom of the stalk of the nut begins to swell and grows into a fruitlike tumor. ("It's not a toomah!" -- a cookie if you know the movie). OK, I am sure the cashew growers of the world didn't appreciate me calling their fruit a tumor, but if they thought I was missing a pop culture reference, they are clearly not reading the same blog and should head for classier pastures.

In any case, the fruitlike by-product of the cashew is commonly called a "cashew apple." By all accounts I can find, it is not only quite tasty but packed with all sort of vitamins and nutrients. It seems the fruit itself is on the delicate side and does not appear to be mass marketed, but is beloved in the countries the nuts are grown. I could be wrong -- for all I know, your local Whole Foods has a rack of them on sale right now -- but as far as web research went, that doesn't sound likely. If you really want to know more about cashew apples, there were 2,200,000 Google results on the topic, so you could have a few years of reading ahead of you.

So that brings us to this juice made by O.N.E. (which Whole Foods did in fact have a rack of), protected by the magic that is the Tetra Pak. The package makes some pretty impressive claims -- such as that the average cashew flower has more vitamin C than an orange. (Although it does not claim that the pack of O.N.E. juice has that much.) It is fat free, gluten free, and it may help ease sore throats, calm the tummy and promote healthy skin.

It might well do all of those things, and more -- but how does it taste?



The juice looks like really cloudy pineapple juice, and it smells sour. Sour as in a spoiled dairy sort of way. It's enough to give you pause and make you wonder if you should really be drinking this.

Honestly, the first few sips are just plain bad. I kept drinking it only because I could not really describe the flavor. But once you wrap your mind around the fact that the smell and the taste don't entirely match, it does grow on you. (Kinda like a tumor?)



The main flavor reminds me most of honey. Not plain honey, but a flavored honey -- though I couldn't put my finger on what that flavor was. Then it finally came to me that the extra flavor reminds me of peach pits. Have you ever been eating a peach, and as you get to the meat that's clinging to the pit, the flavor of the peach seems to become less sweet, more sour, and a tad citrusy? Well, think of that peach pit, combine it with honey, and that taste is what this drink reminded me of. I can see where some people wouldn't be able to get enough of this juice. Me? I did get enough, thank you. It's not that I thought it was bad, it was just not something I could see myself downing on a regular basis.

Different, but ultimately boring and entirely forgettable.



PURCHASED FROM:
Whole Foods

PRICE:
$1.99

CALORIES:
100 per container (11.2 fluid oz)

ADDITIONAL INFO:
Fat free, gluten free, contains a ton of vitamins, and purports to be non-allergenic

OFFICIAL WEBSITE:
onenaturalexsperience.com

O.N.E. Coconut Water with Mango

It's a cool, overcast day as I write this. Yes, we have them even here in sunny Southern California. However, I am kinda wishing that I was sitting on a sunny beach with a girly, fruity drink in my hand (the kind I normally do not drink).

Since I (sadly) will not be doing that anytime soon, I'm going to pretend that I am on a white sand beach while drinking this mango flavored coconut water. And yes, those of you who pay attention to my ramblings probably are well aware that I am on record as hating coconut. And I do. But I don't mind coconut flavor -- it's mostly the texture I dislike.



I reviewed the Guava flavored O.N.E. about a month ago, and was surprised at how refreshing I found it. It also passed the taste test of my best friend -- who shall officially be known as Mr. X, simply because he thinks it sounds cool who grew up in the islands. (It's a long story; just read the first review.) So once again, I made him my guinea pig...I mean guest reviewer.

Mr. X, incidentally, can always pick the most perfectly ripe mango in the bin. I couldn't pick one if my life depended on it, but he can walk to an enormous display of mangoes and pick up a perfect one on the first try. And he loves mango everything, so I thought this drink might be the drink of his dreams.

Inside the spiffy grownup juice box looking Tetra-Pak lurks a bright orange/yellow juice/water. It smells like mango puree -- and I mean that in a good way.

The first sip is a little on the salty side. The mango tastes strong but muted at the same time...weird and contradictory description, I know. It reminded more of mango leather than, say, freshly sliced mango. It doesn't taste artificial in any way, but it doesn't have that brightness that a really good cheek of cold, ripe mango has. (Yes, mango slices are called "cheeks." Like butt cheeks, OK?)



The coconut water itself doesn't really come through as much as it seemed to in the guava version. It's hiding in the background and you can only faintly taste it.

Mr. X's opinion and mine happened to mesh completely (as they often do) on this one. While he adds the extra praise that O.N.E. has once again provided the best packaged coconut water he has ever tasted, we both wish the mango flavor had been less dominant and that the coconut flavor had been stronger. But we'll give it a pass because it has electrolytes, and that's what plants crave!

Right?



PURCHASED FROM:
Albertsons Supermarket

O.N.E. Coconut Water: with a splash of Pink Guava

Yes folks, I am well aware that on many an occasion I have repeatedly stated my hatred of coconut. And I really don't like the stuff. But I do sometimes like coconut flavored drinks. (Yeah, it's girly, but I admit to liking Malibu Rum on occasion.)

I also have a best friend who is from the Caribbean islands (St. Croix) and he has been known to wax poetic about how great coconut water is. However, when he had it, it was directly from a coconut that had just been plucked off the tree. And he may or may not have drunk it body shot style off a hot island girl. How could that not be good, even if you don't like coconut?

Now, in case you are wondering, there is a difference between coconut water and coconut milk. Coconut water is sort of like coconut primordial ooze. It's collected from inside the shell of the coconut before the fruit matures, and before the "meat" of the fruit has even had a chance to form. If you have ever shaken a coconut at the grocery store and heard water swishing around, that is coconut water -- kind of the senior citizen version -- because by that point, the fruit has ripened and the meat is formed...but you get the point. Coconut milk, on the other hand, is actually made from the meat of the coconut being grated, soaked in warm water, and then squeezed through cheesecloth.

Coconut water is one of the most popular drinks in South America (and the Caribbean). My friend has tried several types commercially available here in the States, but none of them have passed his tests. He says they all taste like chemicals.



According to O.N.E., their coconut water is not artificially sweetened, only flavored with real fruit juice, and contains 15 times more potassium than sports drinks (possibly from Kazakhstan, maybe mined by members of the Sagdiyev family?) . It's also full of antioxidants, and might be able to make you fly. OK, I made that last part up. All of that is great, but what I really care about is...what does it tastes like? And will it pass the BFF test?

The water is packaged in Tetra Paks (which have all sorts of spiffy qualities -- it helps preserve the product without added chemicals). I just liked it because it was like drinking a from a giant grown up juice box.



So, for the tasting: I made said best friend from St. Croix try it first. And I have to say he was pretty damn impressed! He said that while it doesn't taste exactly right off the tree, it is pretty darn close. He was happy to see that they even left the little bits of coconut pulp that normally get strained out in other bottled versions.

Did I like it?

I did. It tastes like coconut -- only not. I know that sounds weird, but it's hard to describe. It's sweet, and a little salty. The flavor that we think of as being quintessentially coconut is there, but it's really subtle. The guava adds sort of a fruit punch note to the mix. It was super refreshing. I was afraid I'd have to slog through, it but I gulped my share down. Basically, think of the most refreshing Hawaiian Punch ever, and you pretty much have it.

I'll be buying this one again.


PURCHASED FROM:

Albertsons Supermarket