CASE #2: The Disappearing Fruit Trick

🕵🏽♂️ The Juice Files

Starring: Detective Jah Jah & Professor Walt the Coconut
Filed: July 21, 2025

It was a chill morning in Juice Jam Bay.

Jah Jah reached for a bright red juice box labeled “Strawberry Splash”... then paused.

“Wait. Where’s the actual strawberry?”

The flavor was off. The color was a little *too* bright. Something didn’t add up.

And just like that, the case began.

🔍 Suspect #1: The Natural Flavor Fakers

They come dressed in fruity disguises... but they don’t come from a farm. These tricksters come from a lab.

• Aliases: “Natural flavors”, “fruit essence”, “flavor packs”
• Often paired with fruit juice concentrate or apple/pear base
• Zero real strawberry inside 😳

🧪 Walt’s Lab Breakdown

Here’s how they pull off the trick:

• Start with a cheap juice base (like apple or pear)
• Add beet juice or red dye for color
• Mix in lab-made “strawberry-like” flavor
• Slap on a fruity label and boom — it looks like juice

📋 Juice Box Clues

🧠 Walt’s Wisdom:

“Real fruit has pulp, power, and flavor you can feel. Fake fruit just fools your tongue.”

📒 Case Note from Jah Jah:

“So they dress it up like a fruit party... but it’s just fake juice in costume?? That’s JUICE TRICKERY.”

✅ Final Clue

If your juice box says “Strawberry” but:

• Doesn’t list strawberry as an ingredient
• Says “natural flavor” or “from concentrate”
• Can sit on a shelf for a year...

It’s not real juice. It’s a fruity illusion 🍓🕵🏽♂️

👪 Family Taste Test

Try this experiment at home:

1. Grab a “strawberry” boxed juice from the store
2. Blend or buy a fresh strawberry juice
3. Do a blind taste test with your kid
4. Talk about what’s different and why

📝 Case Closed (for now…)

Another mystery solved. Another faker exposed.

But next time… we’re going green. And the “Green Machine” might be hiding more than spinach. 👀

Until then — stay juicy, and sip smart.