The choice of delicious drinks made from fruit is vast. In addition to the common terms pure juice and fruit juice from concentrate, the term "nectar" is often used. But what is nectar exactly and how does it differ from 100% fruit juice? In this blog  we explain the most important aspects and show you the differences between juice and nectar.

The main difference between juice and nectar is that juice is extracted from the pulp of fruits, whereas nectar is a non-carbonated juice product that contains some fruit juice and other ingredients such as water and sweeteners. Fruit juice is usually 100% pure fruit juice, or close to it, but some can contain a lesser content of fruit juice. On the other hand, nectar is fruit juice mixed in with water and other ingredients.

Fruit juices have the highest fruit content. Most legislations determine that in order to use the term fruit juice, the fruit content must be 100 % of the end product. Furthermore, no additional sugar can be added. Of course, this does not mean that fruit juices are sugar-free, as fruit contains sugar itself. Depending on the fruit, the level of sugar content also varies.

Nectar is a beverage with less than 100% fruit or vegetable juice containment, where the minimum fruit content is 25%. Explained in plain terms, in nectars, fruit juice is diluted with water. Nectars can be sweetened – with sugar, honey or artificial sweeteners, but it cannot contain preservatives or colorants either.