How to Process Fruit or Vegetable into Puree or Juice?How to Process Fruit or Vegetable into Puree or Juice?
The fruit/vegetable puree and juice industry has boomed almost all over the world due to people’s desire for a healthy lifestyle. In the USA alone, bars that offer natural juices and smoothies earn about $2 billion annually. However, what’s the specifics of fruit and vegetable processing, and how to find a manufacturer who follows the best industry standards and takes care of the finished products?
Juice & Puree Making Process
It is not so difficult to choose reliable manufacturers if you know what stages the product must go through to obtain juice and puree. The optimal technological process for such products is as follows.
Technological Process of Tomato Paste
What is the specifics of making tomato paste step by step?
- Washing raw resources. During this process, tomatoes are sorted, only ripe fruits are selected. After that, the process of cleaning the tomatoes and preparation for further stages begins.
- Crushing and pulping stage. With a hammer crusher, tomatoes are crushed to 3-5 mm. After that, the tomatoes will be chopped to 0.4-0.6 mm. The pulping process allows to achieve up to 90% pure paste from seeds and peels.
- Preheating tomato pulp. For cold-pressed tomato puree, a temperature of 55-60℃ is needed for 10-15 minutes. For the break tomato paste, a temperature of up to 85-90℃ is required for 10 to 15 minutes.
- Evaporation and sterilization of tomato paste. These processes are essential to kill bacteria and increase the shelf life of the tomato paste.
- Aseptic Filler Process. This is the process of filling paste into the aseptic filler.
Apple and Pear Juice Technological Process
Apple and pear juices are produced using the same technology. The production scheme consists of such stages as:
- Washing of raw materials: Many bacteria can remain on the fruit but thanks to specialized cleaning, the number of microorganisms can be reduced by up to 5%. At the same stage, the fruit is checked for damage and so on.
- Crushing stage: Apples and pears undergo a crushing process to a size of 3-9 mm. Crushing takes place by roller squeezing and blade cutting. As you know, raw fruit can darken under the air. To avoid this, special membranes, valves, and solutions of ascorbic and citric acids are used.
- Belt press juicer stage: This type of juicer can produce 70-90% juice.
- Ultrafiltration process: This process allows the manufacturer to achieve the purity of the juice with minimal loss of flavor and nutrients.
- Enzymatic processing process: At this stage, enzymes may be added to the juice to complete the clearance process of the juice.
- Concentration process: Concentration takes several minutes with a temperature of 55-60℃. This is the optimal time and temperature so that the juice does not lose its beneficial properties.
- Sterilization and Spill: The processing will depend on what type of finished product filling will be used.
Conclusion
Now, you know how the fruits and vegetables should be processed into juices, smoothies, and purees. However, to get started with such a business, you need reliable equipment that will also be able to meet the growing demands of your distributors and customers. Pay your attention to Beyond fruit and vegetable processing equipment that is quite affordable but still efficient and innovative.