Processing Technology and Method for Apricot Pulp Beverage

1. Apricot pulp beverage:

(1) Process flow: raw material selection → fruit washing → blanching → crushing → pulping → filtering → blending → deaeration, homogenization → sterilization → canning → sealing.

(2) Technical key points:

① Raw material selection: select well-ripened fruit. If the fruit maturity is low, it can be left for a few days for after-ripening before use. Remove diseased, insect-damaged, unripe and rotten fruit.

② Washing: wash the fruit directly with clean water. If there is a lot of dirt on the peel, wash with detergent and then rinse clean with clean water. When pesticide residues on the fruit surface are high, rinse with a 1% hydrochloric acid solution, then wash clean with clean water.

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

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

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

⑥ Blending: prepare a 45%-60% sugar syrup and filter it through a sugar filter or an 80-mesh nylon mesh. Use the filtered syrup to adjust the soluble solids content of the fruit pulp to 14%-16%, and use citric acid solution to adjust the titratable acid content of the fruit pulp to 0.37%-0.4% (calculated as citric acid), so that the original pulp content in the pulp beverage is 40%-60%.

⑦ Deaeration, homogenization: after the juice is blended, carry out vacuum deaeration, then perform homogenization treatment with a high-pressure homogenizer. The deaeration vacuum degree is 90 kPa, and the high-pressure homogenization pressure is 30-60 kPa.

⑧ Sterilization, filling: heat the deaerated and homogenized juice to 93-96°C and hold for 30 seconds. Fill hot into sterilized hot glass bottles or 5104, 5133 cans. During filling, the juice temperature should not be lower than 75°C; seal immediately after filling. Then place in 100°C boiling water and sterilize again for 15-20 minutes. After removal, cool in three stages (78°C, 58°C, 38°C) to 38°C.

(3) Quality requirements: the finished apricot pulp beverage should be orange-yellow or deep yellow, have the flavor proper to apricot beverages, have no off-flavor, and be turbid and uniform; slight sedimentation is allowed after long standing. The original pulp content should be no less than 40%, the soluble solids content 14% or more (by refractometer), and the acid content 0.37% or more (calculated as citric acid).