The present invention relates to a process t'or the preparation of fruit juice powder. The fruit juice powders can be used as concentrated source of fruit juice solids which can be reconstituted in to ready to serve beverages at house holds or used in any other product requiring fruit solids, such as ice creams, fruit custards, yogurts, infant formulations etc..
Fruit juice powders can be prepared by different methods of dehydration viz., hot air drying, vacuum shelf drying, freeze drying, spray drying, etc., The.main constraints encoimtered during the dehydration of fruit juice or fruit juice concentrate are hygroscopicity, lump formation, browning, thermoplasticity, loss of natural aroma and poor storage stability. Spray drying of fruit juices requires addition of -carriers such as maltodextrin or starch, which may effect the flavour and reconstitution properties of the dried powders. Dehydration of fruit juice powders without adding the carriers is very difficult due to the thermoplastic nature of the fruit pulps.
Reference may be made to Chen, 1982, a, US Patent 4,338.350. July 6 wherein it
was reported that sucrose or cane sugar acts as a base for the second ingredient to form a new structiire providing agglomerates. This phenomenon improved the functional properties of the second ingredient and was termed Cocrystallizaiion. Sucrose syrup is concentrated to a supersaturated solution of 97°B and heated to over 250°F (121.1°C) for a few seconds. The solution is then added to the second ingredient and allowed to cool with agitation. Crystallization takes place simultaneously as cooling proceeds without seeding. These crystals agglomerate in a loose, lacy net work and bonded together by point contact. The draw back of this process is it uses very high temperatures of above 250°F (121.1°C) for concentrating sucrose syrup from 70°Brix to 95°Brix which may
affect the physicochemica! characteristics of the product and also magnetic stirring with high shear rates is reqiffred.;
Reference may be made to Beristain.C.I., Mendoza. R.E., Garcia. H.S. and Vazquez, A. 1994. Cocrystallization of Jamaica (HibiscusSabdarifa L ) granules. Lebensm. Wiss. U. Technolo, 27, 347,349, wherein they reported a process for cocrystallization of Jamaica (Hibiscus sabdarifa L) granules by concentrating sucrose syrup of 70°Brix on a heat plate with magnetic stirring to over 95°Brix. The concentrated Jamaica extract was added at this stage and the mixture stirred with a magnetic bar at position 5 until crystallization occurred. The crystals were ground and passed through a 20-mesh sieve. The structure and granular shape of the Jamaica granules obtained presented advantages such as improved dispersibility, solubility, and homogeneity. The draw back of this process is it uses very high temperatures of above 250°F (121.1°C) for concentrating sucrose syrup from 70°Brix to 95°Brix which may affect the physico-chemical characteristics of the product and also magnetic stirring with high shear rates is required.
Reference may be made to Berristain, C.I., Vazquez. A.. Garcia, H.S. and Vernon-Carter, E.J. 1996. Encapsulation of orange peel oil by cocr\'stalliz.ition. Lebensm. Wiss. U. Technol. 29, 645-647 where in they reported encapsulation of orange peel oil by cocrystallization with sucrose using a similar process. Orange peel oil was added at different levels ranging from 9 to 25 percent to the sucrose syrup at 95°B using a Cole parmer high shear mixture at position 1, until crystallization occurred. Heating was stopped immediately after crystallization and the heat of crystallization facilitated water elimination forming a dry granular product. The draw back of this process is it uses very
high temperatures of above 250'^F( I2I.PC) for concentraiiting sucrose syrup from 70°Brix to 95°Brix which may affect the physicochemical characteristics of the product and also magnetic stirring with high shear rates is required.
Preference may be made to Dondi.G. and Zanotti. A. 1978. Fruit juice sugar granules. US patent 4.113,865 where in they patented a process for the preparation of fruit juice sugar granules. The fruit juice sugar granules prepared by this orocess had 8 to 12% fruit juice solids, with the balance being predominantly sugar and not more than 0.05% water. The process involves spraying powdered sugar with a fruit juice in a fluidized bed granulator, granulating and drying the mixture at 90°C. sieving the dried granules to a maximum size of 1 mm and redrying the sieved granules to a moisture content of 0.05%. The main draw back of this process is it involves drying of fruit juice at high temperature in a fluidized bed and the product also contains low fruit solids.
In all the earlier reported studies on cocrystalllzation of different materials by different workers Involved concentrating the sugar syrup from 70°B to 95°B by heating at very high temperatures of 250°F or 121.1°C and crystallizing the supersaturated solutions of sucrose of 95°B by mixing the sucrose at high shear rates using special type of mixtures, where controlling the crystallization Is very difficult and special mixing equipments are required. The high temperatures of more than 121°C employed In these reported processes may also result In undesirable changes viz., browning, artifact fonnation, and effect flavour losses etc., In the product. The cocrystalllzed product also contains a low level or concentration of the second ingredient by these processes.
The main object of the present Invention is to provide a process for the preparation of fruit juice powder, which obviates the drawbacks as detailed above.
Another object of the present invention is to prepare fruit juice powders having more than 30% fruit juice solids.
Still another object of the present invention is to provide a processf or the preparation of fruit juice powders which are less hydroscopic, have good storage stability, and anti caking properties.
Yet another object is to provide a process for the preparation of fruit juice powders which can be used in preparation of ready to serve fruit juice beverages, ice creams, desserts and custards.
Accordingly, the present invention provides an improved process for the preparation of fruit juice powder, which comprises concentrating the fruit juice by conventional methods to a total soluble solids content in the range of 30 to 80°C Brix, raising the brix of the concentrate to 80 to 90°Brix by adding powdered sucrose and 0.1 to 0.7 weight % additive of the kind as herein described, under constant stirring at temperatures ranging 60 - 80°C and stopping the heating immediately after solubulization of sucrose, stirring the solubulized mixture for 5 - 15 minutes to obtain fruit juice crystals, cooling to ambient temperature, separating the adhering syrup by known methods, drying the fruit juice crystals by conventional methods to a final moisture content of not more than 3 percent , powdering the resultant granules, adding colour and vitamin to obtain fruit juice powder.
In an embodiment of the present invention, the fruit juice concentrate methods are vacuum concentration, freeze concentration, and membrane concentration.
In another embodiment of the present invention the powdered sucrose used is cane sugar, beet sugar, sucrose of 40 - 200 mesh.
In yet another embodiment of the present invention the scparaion the adhering syrup from the fruit juice crystals may be effected by known methods such as' centrifuging, vacuum filteration.
in another embodiment of the fruit juice crystals may be drice asing vacuum drier, cross flow drier, or freeze drier for a period of 30 minutes to 4 hours.
In yet another embodiment the present invention 0.1 - 0.7 weight percent of anti caking agent such as tri calcium phosphate may be added to the fruit juice concentrate.
In yet another embodiment of the present invention, ascorbic acid, permitted natural and synthetic food colours, citric acid and sodium citrate, calcium citrate, may be added to the fruit juice powder.
These and other objects are achieved, according to the invention, werere fruit juice concentrate such as pineapple juice concentrate / orange juice concentrate / grape juice concentrate is added with powdered sucrose to raise the total soluble solids to 85-90°Brix, 0.1 to 0.6% anticaking agent such as tricalcium phosphate, heating to 60-80°C along with stirring to solubulize the sucrose, stopping heating and stirring the solubulized mixtture of fruit juice concentrate and sucrose for 5-15 minutes for the crystllization. allowing the cocrystallized material to cool to ambient temperature, centrifuging the
whole mixture to separate the crystals and syrup, drying the crystals in a vacuum shelf drier or freeze drier, till the moisture content is at most 3%, packing in foil laminated pouches or glass bottles, and sealing. The other additives such as permitted colours, citric acid, ascorbic acid required for the beverage formulations are added to the dried fruit juice powder.
The fruit juice powder obtained in this way can be blended as such or after mixing with further additives such as vitamin C, sodium citrate, citric acid. permiUed colours such as tartrazine, or sun set yellow or caramosine etc., The formulation uotained in this way is a powder which can be recon.stituted in to a ready to serve beverage having pleasant taste by adding required quantity of water.
The novelty and irmovative step of the process of the present invention lies to prepare fruit juice powder by concentrating fruit juice concentrate with minimum heating by addition of powdered sucrose to raise the soluble solids to effect the crystallization.
The following examples are given by way of illustration of the present invention and therefore should not be construed to limit the scope of the present invention.
EXAMPLE - 1
Pineapple concentrate (61°Brix) of 1000 grams and 1600 grams of powdered (100 mesh) cane sugars were mixed together along with 4.68 grams of Tricalcium phosphate using a stirrer. The mixture was heated to 70 °C with continuous stirring to solubulize the sucrose powder. The heating was stopped immediately after solubulization. The mixture was stirred continuously for about 15 minutes during which cocrystallization occurred. The mixture wascentrifuged to separate the crystals and syrup. The mixture yielded 2210 grams of crystallized material. The material was further dried in a vacuum drier at 40°C, with a vacuum of 24 inches for 3 hours to a final moisture content of 3 %. The cocrystallised material thus obtained was powdered and passed through 20-mesh screen. The pineapple cocrystallized powder was added with 40g citric acid, 200 mg tartrazine, 50 grams of ascorbic acid, mixed thoroughly and packed in glass containers or flexible aluminium laminate pouches and sealed. This pineapple cocrystallized fruit juice powder
can be used as an instant ready to sers'e beverage formulation after reconstituiion in water.
EXAMPLE-2 Pineapple concentrate (65°Bri:0 of 1000 grams and 1334 grams of powdered sucrose (100 mesh) were mixed together along with 5.83 grams of Tricalcium phosphate using a stirrer. The mixture was heated to 70 °C with continuous stirring to solubulize the sucrose powder. The heating was stopped immediately after solubulization. The mixture was stirred continuously for about 15 minutes during which cocrystallization occurred. The mixture was centrifuged to separate the crystals and syrup. The mixture yielded 2210 grams of crystallized material. The material was further dried in a vacuum drier at 40°C. with a vacuum of 24 inches for 3 hours to a final moisture content of no more than 3 %. The cocrystallised material thus obtained was powdered and passed through 20-mesh screen. The pineapple cocrystallized powder was added with 40g citric acid, 200 mg tartrazine, 50 grams of ascorbic acid, mixed thoroughly and packed in glass containers and flexible aluminium laminate pouches and sealed. This pineapple cocrystallized fruit juice powder can be used as an instant ready to serve beverage formulation after reconstitution in water.
EXAMPLE - 3
Grape concentrate (blue grapes) (75°3rix) of 1000 grams and 666.6 grams of
powdered sucrose (100 mesh) were mixed together along with 4.98 grams of Tricalciimi
phosphate using a stirrer. The mixture was heated to 70 °C with continuous stirring to
solubilize the sucrose powder. The heating was stopped immediately after solubulization.
The mixture was stirred continuously for about 15 minutes during which cocrysiaiiization occurred. The mixture was centrifuged to separate the crystals and syrup. The mixture yielded 2210 grams of crystallized material. The material was further dried in a vacuum drier at 4G°C, with a vacuum of 24 inches for 5 hours to a fmai moisture content of not more than 3 %. The cocrystallised material thus obtained was powdered and passed through 20-mesh screen. The guava cocrystallized powder was added with 34 g citric acid, 50 grams of ascorbic acid, mixed thoroughly and packed in glass containers and flexible aiuminium laminate pouches and sealed. This guava cocrystallized fruit juice powder can be used as an instant ready to serve beverage formulation after reconstitution in water.
EXAMPLE - 4
Orange juice concentrate (65°Brix) of 1000 grams and 1334 grams of powdered
(100 mesh) cane sugar were mixed together along with 5.83 grams of Tncaicium
phosphate using a stirrer. The mixture was heated to 70 °C with continuous stirring to
solubulize the sucrose powder. The heating was stopped immediately after solubulization.
The mixture was stirred continuously for about 15 minutes during which cocrystallization
occurred. The mixture was centrifuged to separate the crystals and syrup. The mixture
yielded 2210 grams of crystallized material. The material was further dried in a vacuum
drier at 40°C, with a vacuum of 24 inches for 2.5 hours to a final moisture
content of not more than 3%. The cocrystallised material thus obtained was
powdered and passed through 20-mesh screen. The orange cocrystallized
powder was added with 40g citric acid, 100 mg tartrazine, lOOmg sun set
yellow, 50 grams of ascorbic acid, mixed thoroughly and packed in glass
containers or flexible aluminium laminate pouches and
sealed. This orange cocrystallized fruit juice powder can be used as an instant ready to serve beverage formulation after reconstitution in water.
EXAMPLE - 5
Banana juice concentrate (70°Bnx) of 1000 grams and 1000 grains of powdered (100 mesh) cane sugar are mixed together along with 5 grams of Tricalcium phosphate using a stirrer. The mixture was heated to 70 °C with continuous stirring to solubulize the sucrose powder. The heating was stopped immediately after solubulization. The mixture was stirred continuously for about 15 minutes during which cocrystallizanon occurred. The mixture was centrifiiged to separate the crystals and syrup. The mixture yielded 2210 grams of crystallized material. The material was further dried in a vacuum drier at 40°C, with a vacuum of 24 inches for 2hours to a final moisture content of not more than 3 %. The cocrystallised material thus obtained was powdered and passed through 20-mesh screen. The orange cocrystallized powder was added with 40g citric acid, 100 mg tartrazine, lOOmg sun set yellow, 50 grams of ascorbic acid, mixed thoroughly and packed in glass containers and flexible aluminium laminate pouches and sealed. This orange cocrystallized fruit juice powder can be used as an instant ready to serve beverage formulation after reconstitution in water.
The main advantages of the present invention are: l. The cocrystallized fruit juice powder obtained according to the invention had high fruit juice solids with excellent storage stability when packed in a suitable packaging material, under ambient conditions of storage. 2. The process does not involve the use of high shear mixtures.
3.The cocrystallized fruit juice powder had no lumping and caking, and was free flowing.
The powder has the characteristic natural aroma of the fruit juice used.
4. The process developed uses comparatively low temperatures i.e.. 70-80°C for the
preparation of fruit juice powder.
5.The present process makes it possible for the first time to prepare fruit juice powder
from pineapple concentrate, orange concentrate, guava concentrate, banana concentrate
etc., containing a high proportion of fruit juice solids of about 30-35% by
cocrystallization process.
6. The fruit juice powders prepared from this process can be used as a concentrated source of fruit juice solids and can be used in the preparation of instant fruit beverage formulations.
7. The fruit juice powder can be fortified with vitamin C for better quality.

We Claim:
1. An improved process for the preparation of fruit juice powder, which comprises concentrating the fruit juice by conventional methods to a total soluble solids content in the range of 30 to 80°C Brix, raising the brix of the concentrate to 80 to 90°Brix by adding powdered sucrose and 0.1 to 0.7 weight % additive of the kind as herein described, under constant stirring at temperatures ranging 60 - 80°C and stopping the heating immediately after solubuiization of sucrose, stirring the solubulized mixture for 5 - 15 minutes to obtain fruit juice crystals, cooling to ambient temperature, separating the adhering syrup by known methods, drying the fruit juice crystals by conventional methods to a final moisture content of not more than 3 percent, powdering the resultant granules, adding colour and vitamin to obtain fruit juice powder.
2. An improved process as claimed in claim 1 wherein conventional methods used for the fruit juice concentrate preparation are selected from vacuum concentration, freeze concentration, membrane concentration.
3. An improved process as claimed in claims 1-2 wherein the powdered sucrose used is selected from cane sugar, beet sugar, sucrose of 40-200 mesh.
4. An improved process as claimed in claims 1 - 3 wherein the fruit juice crystals are dried using vacuum drier, cross flow drier, or freeze drier for a period in the range of 30 minutes to 4 hours.
5. An improved process as claimed in claims 1 - 4 wherein additives used is tri calcium phosphate.
6. An improved process as claimed in claims 1-5 wherein vitamin used is ascorbic acid, permitted natural and synthetic food colours, citric acid and sodium citrate.
7. An improved process for the preparation of fruit juice powder substantially as herein described with reference to the examples.