PROCESS FOR PREPARING CITRUS JUICE CONCENTRATE

摘要

PROCESS FOR PREPARING CITRUS JUICE CONCENTRATE John R. Powers Robert S. Moore A process for preparing a citrus fruit juice concentrate having a high level of citrus juice aroma and flavor volatiles is disclosed. The fruit juice concentrate has at least 33% solids including pulp, sugars, pectin. The citrus juice concentrate contains at least 60% of the volatiles naturally occurring in the juice . The process involves stripping the volatiles from citrus juice at reduced pressures using a stripping agent, such as steam, at temperatures about 100.degree.F (37.7.degree.C) to about 160.degree.F (71.degree.C). The volatiles are condensed. The condensate can be separated into two fractions: a limonene-based stripper oil and an aqueous stripper essence. The aqueous stripper essence is concentrated, usually with a carrier material. The concentrated aqueous stripper essence composition contains most of the highly volatile aroma and flavor components of the juice. The concentrated aqueous stripper essence and stripper oil compositions are blended with the conventionally concentrated citrus juice to make a superior citrus juice concentrate. Both an aqueous essence (evaporator essence) and an oil essence (evaporator essence oil) can be recovered from the evaporation step. Both of these contain much less of the volatile components than normally would be recovered from the evaporator because these components were removed in the stripping step. The devolatilized juice is also concentrated using conventional evaporation or concentration techniques.