Food or edible material: processes – compositions – and products – Processes – Separating a starting material into plural different...
Reexamination Certificate
2000-09-25
2001-11-06
Weier, Anthony J. (Department: 1761)
Food or edible material: processes, compositions, and products
Processes
Separating a starting material into plural different...
C426S599000, C426S490000, C426S492000, C426S495000
Reexamination Certificate
active
06312748
ABSTRACT:
The invention relates in general to a method for extracting fruit juice concentrate and in particular to a method for increasing the yield of fruit juice in the extraction of fruit juice concentrate from citrus fruits.
Fruit juices are unfermented, but fermentable, alcohol-free products made above all from pomaceous fruits, grapes and citrus fruits, which possess the characteristic aroma, the characteristic taste and the characteristic colour of the juices concerned. The juices are extracted by mechanical means from fresh fruit or fruit made non-perishable by chilling, from which coarse and/or indigestible parts, such as for example peel and seeds have been removed, and which have been made non-perishable by physical. methods.
One problem with the production of fruit juices lies in the fact that after the comminution of the fruit by technical means in the production process (e.g. during juice extraction) uncontrolled enzyme and other reactions set in, as the destruction of the cells means that enzymes and other constituents are no longer separated from each other by the cell membranes.
One possibility of preventing these undesired reactions is by producing a fruit juice concentrate. For this purpose the mixture of pulp and fruit juice resulting after juice extraction is separated into fruit juice and pulp (fruit flesh) by means of a passing machine. The fruit juice is then processed by concentration to give fruit juice concentrate. The pulp can be made non-perishable by heat treatment and cooling or aseptic packaging. By means of these suitable processing steps the abovementioned reactions can be prevented. The restoration of the fruit juice is carried out by means of a re-dilution procedure, in which the quantity of water removed during concentration is put back into the fruit juice concentrate. In addition, part or all of the pulp removed during concentration can be admixed again.
Moreover producing the fruit juice concentrate in the producer country and subsequently re-diluting it in the consumer country results in a considerable reduction in transport costs, as the volume and weight of the concentrate are considerably lower than those of the actual fruit juice.
The extraction of fruit juice concentrate from citrus fruits is carried out by a known method, in which fruits are separated into several constituent groups in a juice extraction plant, i.e. into peel, zest, seeds and oil emulsion on the one hand, and into pulp and fruit juice on the other hand. This mixture of pulp and fruit juice is then fed into a passing machine where it is divided into pulp and primary juice. The primary juice is then further processed to produce fruit juice concentrate by a known method.
In a further process step the pulps produced during passing are submitted to pulp extraction, in which, with the addition of water, on the one hand pulp extract and on the other hand pulp residues are produced. These pulp residues are waste materials and are of no further use for drinks production. There are therefore for the most part dried and further processed, for example, into animal fodder or fertilizers.
The pulp extract is then fed into an evaporator. The aim of this process step is to thicken the pulp extract, and so the condensate is removed from the pulp extract. The pulp extract concentrated in this way is not suitable for the production of fruit juice and is mostly used as a base material for refreshing drinks.
This known method has several disadvantages:
During the pulp extraction stage, considerable quantities of juice are lost via the pulp residues, which could be used for fruit juice. This results in substantial financial losses.
The resultant pulp extract and thus also the concentrated pulp extract contain some constituents that adversely affect the taste of the refreshing drinks produced using the concentrated pulp extract.
In the known process, large quantities of residual fluid are produced. As explained above, a great deal of water has to be used in extraction of the pulp, and this water remains in the pulp residues following the extraction, or ends up as condensate after the evaporation of the pulp extract. The high water consumption and the high energy use in the subsequent removal of the water in the drying of the pulp residues and/or evaporation of the pulp extract give rise to high production costs. No further fruit juice is extracted in the process.
Finally it is desirable to minimise the quantity of concentrated pulp extract produced. There are good economic reasons for not producing any pulp extract, but for extracting the high quality residual juice contained in the pulp and using this in the production of fruit juice concentrate.
Consequently, it is the object of the present invention to provide a method for the production of fruit juice concentrate, in which the yield of usable fruit juice is increased and the quantity of residual fluid and waste materials is minimised.
The abobe object is fulfilled by the features of claim
1
. Advantageous developments of the present invention are subject-matter of the sub-claims.
REFERENCES:
patent: 4463025 (1984-07-01), Strobel
patent: 4942051 (1990-07-01), Sardisco
patent: 137671 (1985-04-01), None
patent: 2680177 (1993-02-01), None
patent: 91/03172 (1991-03-01), None
Foley & Lardner
Weier Anthony J.
Wesergold Getrankeindustrie GmbH & CO KG
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