In 1945, the National Research Corporation of Boston, Massachusetts, developed a method of concentrating orange juice into a powder using a high-vacuum evaporation process previously developed for dehydrating medical products for use in the U.S. war effort.
The US Army had a need for 500,000 lb for the war, so NRC created a new branch, the Florida Foods Corporation. Led by John M. Fox, the company won the government contract for $750,000. The war ended and the contract was canceled before the factory could be built, but with investment, the company moved forward with a product.
Rather than selling powder to the public market, the company decided to create frozen orange juice concentrate, using a process that eliminated 80 percent of the water in orange juice. A Boston marketing firm came up with the name Minute Maid, implying the juice was quick and easy to prepare.
