Minute Maid Juice Pitcher by Tupperware

Description:

This tall, white pitcher represents two significant food-related innovations with roots in 1940s America: frozen orange juice concentrate, developed by scientists who patented the manufacturing process in 1948, and Tupperware, the polyethylene container system developed by Earl Tupper in 1948 and sold by direct marketing to consumers in their homes.

This polyethylene pitcher, including its lid and spout cap, was sold as a promotional tie-in between Tupperware and Minute Maid juices. The pitcher is printed with an image of a smiling girl wearing a bonnet. Red lettering on the pitcher reads, "Minute Maid Large Family Size Juice Mixer." Mixing instructions and measuring lines are printed on the back.

Processors of frozen concentrated orange juice like Minute Maid recreated the flavor of fresh orange juice by adding “cut-back” (fresh juice, flavor essences, and peel oil) to the thick concentrate before freezing. At home, consumers mixed the frozen concentrate with water in pitchers of their own, or in containers like this, especially promoted for this purpose. Shipped nation-wide, the frozen concentrated product was easy to make and provided orange juice all year long when fresh-squeezed juice was prohibitively expensive.