Processing method for cloudy peach juice beverage

(1) Process flow: raw material selection -> fruit washing -> blanching -> crushing -> pulping -> filtering -> blending -> deaeration -> homogenization -> sterilization -> filling -> sealing.

(2) Technical key points:

① Raw material selection: select well-ripened fruit, remove diseased, insect-damaged and rotten fruit, and pick out underripe fruit for further ripening before use.

② Washing: wash off surface dirt with clean water, or use detergent to remove the fuzz from peach skin. When pesticide residues are high, rinse with a 1% hydrochloric acid solution, then wash clean with water.

③ Blanching: blanch whole fruit in water at 80-90°C for 15-25 minutes, until cooked through and softened; remove and immediately cool in cold water to room temperature.

④ Pulping: after blanching, crush the fruit and pulp it with a pulper with mesh openings 0.5-1.0 mm in diameter. Add L-ascorbic acid at 0.04%-0.08% of the pulp weight to the fruit pulp to prevent oxidation.

⑤ Filtering: press-filter the fruit pulp through a 60-mesh nylon screen to remove coarse fibers and larger fruit pieces.

⑥ Blending: use 45%-60% filtered sugar syrup to adjust the soluble solids content of the fruit pulp to 14%-16%, and use citric acid solution to adjust the titratable acidity of the fruit pulp to 0.37%-0.4% (calculated as citric acid), so that the original fruit puree content in the pulp beverage is 40%-60%. First prepare sucrose into a 60% sugar solution, boil it, filter it through a 100-mesh nylon screen, and then use it.

⑦ Deaeration: after the juice is blended, carry out vacuum deaeration to remove the air in the juice, prevent foaming during sterilization and filling, and reduce oxidation during processing, so as not to affect the sterilization effect and appearance.

⑧ Homogenization: when producing cloudy juice, in order to maintain a certain degree of cloudiness in the juice, homogenize it with a high-pressure homogenizer to further refine the fruit pulp particles in the beverage and improve its stability; this is especially important when packaging in transparent glass bottles.

⑨ Sterilization: heat the juice to 93-96°C and hold for 30 seconds. Fill hot into sterilized hot glass bottles; the filling temperature must not be lower than 75°C. Seal immediately, invert, then sterilize in boiling water at 100°C for 10-15 minutes; after removing, cool in stages to 38°C.

(3) Quality requirements: pulp beverage is one type of cloudy beverage; the original fruit puree content is required to be not less than 40%, the juice should be uniformly cloudy, and slight sedimentation after long standing is allowed. A pulp beverage produced with yellow peach as the raw material should be orange-yellow or deep yellow. White peach pulp beverage is white or yellowish white. It should have the proper flavor, with a soluble solids content of 14% or more (by refractometer) and an acid content of 0.37% or more (calculated as citric acid).