Fruit juice refers to the juice obtained directly from fresh fruit by pressing or other methods without adding any foreign substances, while fruit juice beverage refers to the juice prepared by adding water, sugar, acid, essence, spices, etc. with fruit juice as the base material. According to the classification standards for soft drinks in GB/T 10789-2015, fruit juice beverages are divided into: raw fruit juice, concentrated fruit juice, raw fruit juice, concentrated fruit juice, pulp fruit juice beverage, high sugar fruit juice beverage, fruit granule fruit juice beverage, and fruit juice beverage.
There are many factors that affect the quality of juice processing raw materials, and they are usually measured by the following formula: juice quality=(nutrition) × Storage resistance × Security × Acceptability/(Weight × Price × Energy consumption).
1. Raw materials
(1) Basic requirements for the quality of fruit juice raw materials.
① Timely harvesting; ② Select raw materials with high freshness; ③ Choose raw materials with high cleanliness.
(2) The variety characteristics that juice raw materials should possess.
① High juice yield or pulp yield of fruit juice; ② Sweet and sour taste; ③ Rich aroma; ④ Brilliant colors; ⑤ Rich in nutrients and high preservation rate during processing; ⑥ Low content of ingredients that seriously affect the quality of fruit juice; ⑦ High content of soluble solids; ⑧ The texture is suitable.
2. Basic process points for different forms of fruit juice production
(1) Clarify the juice.
Clarification and filtration are required, and those made from dried fruits also require extraction.
(2) Turbid juice.
Homogenization and degassing are required.
(3) Concentrated juice.
Concentration is required.
(4) Fruit pulp beverage.
Pre cooking, beating, homogenization, and degassing are required.
(5) Fruit powder.
Drying is required.
3. Fruit juice processing technology
3.1 Sterilization of Fruit Juice
Sterilization includes thermal sterilization (electric heating sterilization, dry heating sterilization, microwave sterilization, high-temperature sterilization, pasteurization or high-temperature instantaneous sterilization, etc.) and non thermal sterilization (ultraviolet sterilization, pulse electric field sterilization, magnetic sterilization, ultra-high pressure treatment, irradiation treatment, chemical and biological sterilization technology). The so-called sterile packaging refers to a new type of packaging method for food in a sterile environment. The procedure of this packaging method is to first sterilize the food, usually using steam ultra-high temperature instantaneous sterilization method. Then, in a sterile environment, the food is placed in a sterilized packaging container and sealed. The container is usually sterilized with hydrogen peroxide solution or ethylene oxide gas.
3.2 Filling of fruit juice
There are two types of fruit juice filling: hot filling and cold filling. Hot filling refers to the filling of fruit juice in a hot state after sterilization, using the heat of the product to sterilize the inner surface of the container; Cold filling refers to filling without sterilization before filling, and filling after cooling, such as frozen concentrated fruit juice and refrigerated fruit juice.
3.3 Stability of Fruit Juice
Measures to improve the stability of cloudy juice: reduce the radius of suspended particles in the juice, i.e. homogenization; Increase the viscosity of the dispersion medium, i.e. the use of thickeners and stabilizers (CMC, PGA, pectin, agar, guar gum, xanthan gum, gellan gum, etc.); Reduce the density difference between particles and dispersed media, i.e. degassing.
4. Suggestions for juice production
(1) Development direction.
Develop 100% of the original fruit juice; High value-added juice drinks with added functional factors; Healthy fruit juice with plant extracts added; Develop mixed fruit and vegetable juices.
(2) Pay attention to the issue.
Attention should be paid to issues such as fruit juice spoilage (including discoloration, flavor change, mold growth, etc.), changes in nutritional components of fruit and vegetable juice (vitamins, carotenoids, anthocyanins, flavonoids), and excessive pesticide residues.
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