What You Should Know about the Process of Producing Vegetable and Fruit Concentrates

The processing and production of fruit and vegetable purees, juices, and concentrates has been going on for many years, and the process has not greatly varied from how it was originally. If your business requires you to source fruit or vegetable juice or concentrates from various suppliers and manufacturers, however, it pays to know how useful and beneficial fruit or vegetable concentrate can really be – not just in terms of the flavour and taste of products, but also in terms of economic savings. Here’s what you should know about the process of producing vegetable and fruit concentrates.

The main purpose

The main reason for turning fresh fruit and vegetables into concentrate is due to seasonality. The general idea is to have fruit and vegetables the whole year round, and not just during the summer or autumn seasons. If fruit and vegetable derivatives (such as concentrate) can be made available throughout the year, they can be used in a variety of food and beverage products, including soups, creams, juices, smoothies and shakes, pastas, and much more. A food and beverage producer or manufacturer should be able to use the fruit or vegetable concentrate regardless of the season, resulting in enhanced production.

The process

The process of turning fruit and vegetables into concentrate begins with the washing of the fruit or vegetables, and it proceeds to the boning and deactivation of enzymes as well as ‘aseptic’ processing. During the first phase of processing, a paste is produced, and this then goes on to the process of evaporation where the water is further reduced or removed from the paste, resulting in concentrate. Afterwards, the product goes through a process of pasteurisation, then it is aseptically packaged. If the fruit or vegetable concentrate will be stored in frozen form, however, pasteurisation will often be done before the process of evaporation. It is also possible to evaporate and pasteurise at the same time; there are many combinations in regard to the process of producing the concentrate, and this can also vary depending on the recipe for the actual product.

One major benefit: less expensive transport

There is also one major benefit brought about by the use of fruit or vegetable concentrates: they allow for the easier transport of goods from one point to another. Compared to the transport of fresh fruit, the transport of vegetable and fruit concentrates is much less expensive (and much less of a headache as well).

If you are looking for fruit or vegetable concentrate, it is better to source it from experienced fruit juice manufacturers and suppliers which can give you a guarantee of complete transparency and a reliable and trustworthy service.