weight basis.

When juice is heated above 60 °C, the granules are dissolved and
may cause haze upon storage unless they are fully degraded by addition of
amylase. Starch breakdown is checked by an iodine test; iodine turns blue in
the presence of starch.

Organic acids
The total acid content in apple juices depends mainly on the amount of malic
acid, which is named from the fruit itself (Latin malus). It is typically present
at levels of 0.5%, with a range from 0.2 to 1.4% depending upon variety, place
of cultivate, ripeness, climate and harvesting techniques, and generally consti-
tutes at least 80% of the total acid in the juice. The balance is largely accounted
for by quinic acid at levels between 0.04% and 0.46%. Other acids that have
been detected in traces are citramalic and shikimic acid. Lactic acid is may be
present only as a result of bacterial activity. Tartaric and oxalic acids do not
occur in apple juice. The content of citric acid should not exceed 200 mg/l;
higher values indicate addition of citric acid or other fruit juices, for instance
pear juice.

Proteins and amino acids

Pectin, which is released from the middle lamella of apple cell walls by the
mechanical action of milling and pressing, is present in raw apple juices to a
varying extent.
Pectin The pectin level in juice from late harvested fruit, or fruit from cold storage,
may rise as high as 1-2.5%. Apple pectin consists very largely of polymerised
galacturonic acid chains which are methoxylated up to a level of 95%. In mod-
ern juice plants the pectin is largely broken down by the action of added en-
zymes, yielding shorter galacturonic acid residues which are partly
demethoxylated. Pectin has generally been regarded as a nuisance from the
technological standpoint. However, it contributes to a major part of the texture
and mouthfeel of cloudy juices, and also represents a “non-dietary fibre” ele-
ment in the juice, which may lead to some re-evaluation of its role.
Pectin and pectin-like compounds have a influence on the body or viscosity of
the juice.
Protein The true soluble protein level in apple juices, even when unclarified, is ex-
tremely small and generally does not exceed 100 ppm (parts per million). Even
this small amount, however, can be sufficient to play a major part in the for-
mation of the so called “Post Bottling Haze” PBH and is precipitated when
complexed with polyphenols. In cloudy juices, the combination of protein
with pectin and polyphenols is largely responsible for the desirable cloud,
which constitutes between 120 and 500 ppm of the juice. 89% of the total sol-
uble nitrogen in apple juice is attributable to free amino acids, asparagine
alone accounting for 79%.

Pigments
The partly colour of apple juice is due to the enzymic oxidation products gen-
erated from phloridzin (25%), epicatechin (25%) and procyanidins (50%). The
first two classes are chemically well-defined as orange-yellow pigments with
maximum absorbance at 420 nm in the visible spectrum. The procyanidin ox-
idation products are poorly defined, with no definite absorbance maximum in
the visible region.
The final colour of a juice is however determined by a large number of factors.
If juice is allowed to oxidise in the presence of pulp, the coloured compounds
will be adsorbed, and successively pressed juices will become lighter after an
initial peak of soluble colour.

Technical Training Centre 1/9611 TM-00018 Training Document. For training purpose only. 3
 If raw juice is oxidised with the minimum of suspended solids, colour will in-
crease progressively until the enzyme is inactivated by phenolic oxidation
products after about 12 hours, or inactivated by heat.

Nitrogenous compounds
The nitrate content is normally lower than 5 mg/l. Higher content indicates
contamination with water containing nitrates.

Volatile compounds
Several hundred components have been identified in flavour extracts of apples
and apple juices. Four major classes of compounds found in apple juice can be
distinguished, viz. esters, aldehydes, alcohols and process volatiles. The aro-
ma of fresh apples is usually dominated by esters, which slowly increase dur-
ing ripening and sometimes during storage. When the fruit is disintegrated by
milling, a series of very rapid enzymic changes leads to generation of C6-al-
dehydes and alcohols (both saturated and unsaturated) by lipoxygenase action
on unsaturated fatty acid precursors such as linoleic and linolenic acid.
These volatiles generally reach a maximum within 10-30 minutes of crushing.
Simultaneously, esterases split some of the original fruit esters to their parent
alcohols and acids. The effect of pasteurisation and other thermal processes
then creates an additional range of “process” volatiles. The final aroma of ap-
ple juice is therefore exceedingly complex, and not necessarily characteristic
of the fresh intact fruit.
The constituents of apple flavour are as follows:
• Alcohols (92%) - methyl, ethyl, propyl, 2-propanol, butyl, isobutyl, d-2-
metyl-1-butanol and hexyl.
• Carbonyl compounds (6%) - acetaldehyde, acetone, caproaldehyde and 2-
hexenal.
• Esters (2%) - ethyl butyrate and ethyl caproate.
These compounds are present in the original fruit at a total concentration of ap-
proximately 50 ppm. Being volatile, they are lost to some extent during the
processing, especially where heating and boiling takes place. The extent to
which these compounds are flashed off during processing markedly influences
the flavour of the finished juice.
Tannins Tannins are also present in small amounts in apple juice; these compounds
have a marked effect on the flavour of juice because of their astringency. Tan-
nins are also partially responsible for the rapid darkening of macerated apple
tissue and apple juice when they are exposed to air.

Vitamins
The greatest difference between orange juice and apple juice is in the amount
of vitamins A and C. In orange juice there are 6 times more vitamin A and 3
to 350 (average 21) times more vitamin C than in apple juice.

Inorganic constituents
Typical minerals found in apple juice are potassium, calcium and magnesium.

Technical Training Centre 1/9611 TM-00018 Training Document. For training purpose only. 4
 Enzymatic and other reactions in juice
Raw apple juice pectin is highly methoxylated and forms a relatively stable
colloidal suspension. The action of a pectin methyl esterase (PME) will partly
demethoxylate the pectin, giving some free galacturonic acid groups which are
negatively charged. These may combine with weak cations such as proteins to
form a stable hydrated floc which initially remains suspended in the viscous
juice. The relatively stable cloud in cloudy and opalescent juices is of this type,
and is not primarily due to cellular debris as is often believed. The action of
the fruit own PME in the apple is sufficient to produce a pectin cloud with na-
tive apple protein, which is then heat-set by the pasteurisation step. If polyga-
lacturonase (PG) activity is also present in the system, however, long pectin
chains will be broken down and the viscosity of the system will diminish
markedly.
A very useful additional activity in enzymes for apple juice is that of an amy-
lase which helps to break down the starch often found as granules in early har-
vested fruit. If these granules cannot be removed by filtration or centrifugation
beforehand, it is important that they are fully dissolved by heating to 85 °C be-
fore enzyme treatment, because commercial amylases cannot degrade granu-
lar starch.
Enzyme action is not instantaneous, so it is necessary to provide a holding tank
for the juice after the press and before filtration, with facilities for maintaining
temperatures between 15 and 50 °C. Typical treatment times for juice depec-
tinisation are 1 hour at 15-20 °C or 15 minutes at 45-50 °C. Intermediate tem-
peratures are not recommended, because yeast growth is at a maximum
between 20 and 40 °C.

Browning
Two enzyme systems - polyphenol oxidase and peroxidase - are responsible
for the oxidative browning of apple tissue and raw apple juice. Polyphenol ox-
idase is responsible for the greater part of the coloration, as it oxidises the cat-
echol and pyragallol of the tannins in raw apple juice. Peroxidase is
responsible for only a small part of the darkening. Polyphenol oxidation is a
major source of browning and a contributory cause of flocculation.
The oxidative changes in raw apple juice due to enzymatic and non-enzymatic
browning are well known. The “tannins” of juices form the substrates that are
mainly involved in enzymatic reactions, chlorogenic acid and leucoanthhocy-
anins being of major importance. Amino acids, sugars and organic acids par-
ticipate in non-enzymatic browning reactions. The intense browning reactions
that occur immediately after milling and during pressing are almost exclusive-
ly enzymatic ones.
The formation of the brown colour is accompanied by a change in flavour. The
typical fruit flavour decreases, and the juice takes on the flavour of old-fash-
ioned cider. Measurements of oxygen uptake in apple juices have shown that
oxidation occurs more rapidly than in orange or lemon juices. Since these ox-
idation processes continue at an undiminished rate in the absence of air, it is,
if fresh fruit aroma profiles are desired, necessary to inactivate the oxidases as
quickly as possible. Unfortunately the most current used pressing operation
creates almost ideal conditions for intense aeration of the juices. Heating the
juice to 95 °C for 30 seconds is normally sufficient to inactivate the oxidising
enzymes.

Technical Training Centre 1/9611 TM-00018 Training Document. For training purpose only. 5
 Processing
Apples used for processing
Approximately 30% of all apples are processed into juice and concentrates; the
rest is consumed as fresh fruit. Varieties used for processing include Cox’s Or-
ange, Golden Delicious, Gravenstein, James Grieve, Belle de Boskoop, Ben
Davis, Jonathan and McIntosh. All successful manufacturers now stress prop-
er maturity and specify a definite quality of apples. To make a top-ranking
product, care must be taken to make certain that no decayed or partially de-
cayed apples are ground for pressing.
Unripe apples produce an unsatisfactory juice, lacking in apple flavour and
having a “starchy” or “green-apple” taste. The juice tends to be acid and as-
trigent in character and lacking in sweetness and body. These characteristics
are partly due to the high percentage of starch in unripe apples. As the fruit ma-
tures this starch changes into sugars, with a resulting improvement in the sugar
content of the apple juice.
Overripe apples give a low yield of poor quality juice, lacking in flavour.
Overripe fruit may also cause difficulties in pressing and clarifying because it
is too soft, mealy or rotten. Most of the varieties of apples grown in Europe
and North America can be used for making a saleable apple juice. Some vari-
eties do not make a satisfactory juice when used singly, but are excellent when
blended with other varieties. In any given area a good general blending rule is
to make apple juice from a combination of not less than three varieties that are
approximately ripe for eating.
Dessert apples such as Discovery or Worcester (early), Cox’s (mid-season or
cold-stored) and Golden Delicious (late-season or cold-stored) are blended
with the acid cooking apple Bramley (available from September to May, in the
northern hemisphere, from cold store) to achieve a balanced sugar/acid ratio.
This allows production of cloudy juice for as much as nine months of the year.

Fruit quality for processing

The quality of fruit has a direct influence on process performance. Good qual-
ity fruit gives a high yield, as well as fewer processing problems. There is a
series of tests that are helpful in predicting the quality of the processed apple
product from raw fruit evaluation. Those which seem to be the most useful are
% soluble solids, % titratable acidity, firmness, volatility level, and ethylene
concentration in the fruit. Sugar/acid ratio and ascorbic acid analysis can be
particularly helpful for juice analyses or for pinpointing the optimum harvest
time for processing.

Technical Training Centre 1/9611 TM-00018 Training Document. For training purpose only. 6
 The apple juice line
Apple processing line
Reception
Milling Extraction
Water/
enzymes

Pomace

Juice preheating Final evaporation Pre-evaporation Aroma recovery

Concentrate
handling Depectination
UF clarification Aroma
concentrate

Storage
Concentrate
cooling STOR
COLD STO
E
RE

Fruit handling
Reception The harvested fruit is collected in trucks from the orchards and transported to
the factory in. Apples are received truckloads of 25-30 tonnes or in bins. A
plant can run up to 15 different varieties of apples over the course of a process-
ing season, and different varieties may be blended each day to meet the quality
requirements of the plant. The trucks are weighed on arrival and then directed
to an offloading bay.
Apples are unloaded into storage silos. A chute in the bottom of each silo
opens to discharge apples into a water channel running alongside the outlets of
the silos. Water is circulated through the silo in operation by pumps, flushing
the apples along the channel. Stones and other heavy particles conveyed along
with the apples are collected in a trap built into the bottom of the channel.
The amount of apples forwarded is controlled by a fruit distributor with adjust-
able capacity. The apples and water then pass a grate slide where the water,
leaves and twigs are drained into a basin, while the apples are forwarded to the
inlet hopper of a screw elevator. The water is pumped out of the basin through
strainer where the leaves and twigs are retained.
Washing Before apples are used for juice they should be washed to remove all adhering
dirt. A leaf-eliminator section in a conveyor ahead of the storage bins, or at
least prior to washing and sorting, prevents accumulation of leaves and grass
in the plant. A high proportion of leaves or grass ground up with the apples
would cause an off-flavour in the juice.
Inspection Sorting the apples to remove all unsuitable fruit or foreign matter is possibly
the most important operation in the production of first quality apple juice. It

Technical Training Centre 1/9611 TM-00018 Training Document. For training purpose only. 7
 should be noted that even a few partially decayed apples can impart a charac-
teristic “rotten” flavour to a large volume of aroma concentrate.

Juice extraction
Washed and inspected apples enter the extraction unit by an inclined screw
conveyor which transports them to an intermediate silo that provides a buffer
for the subsequent extraction operation.
In the mill the apples are disintegrated into small pieces to form a mash, which
is collected in a balance tank.
Two types of equipment are most commonly used for mashing: one type grates
the apples to a pulp, the other type is a hammer mill.
In many juice plants, juice winning is made in two steps with the aim to reach
to highest yield values. In a first extraction step most of the juice is recovered.
Water is added to the residue of the dejuiced mash, and the mixture is pumped
to a tank from which it is pumped to the second extraction step.
In the second extraction step diluted (with water) juice is obtained. This dilut-
ed juice is either mixed with the juice from the first extraction step or proc-
essed and concentrated separately.
The pomace from the last extraction step, amounting to 10-20% of the raw ma-
terial fed to the plant, is removed by a conveyor for possible further processing
and utilisation. The percentage of residual pomace depends mainly on the type
of extraction technology used.
Extraction in belt presses The mash drops from the mill into the inlet hopper of a pump which forwards
it to the inlet hopper of a belt press. Here the mash is spread out in a layer by
a distributor device. The layer is distributed between two “permeable” belts
which move slowly over a number of rollers with varying diameters. As the
belts pass the different rollers, the juice is expressed from the mash and col-
lected on trays under the rollers, from which it is discharged to a balance tank
under the press. The pomace is collected in a screw conveyor at the top of the
press.
After pressing and removal of pomace, the belts are cleaned by high-pressure
water jets. The water and pomace residues rinsed off the belts are collected and
recycled.
The rinsing water is fed to the spray nozzles by a high-pressure pump. The
used rinsing water is then collected in a tank at the bottom of the press, from
which it is forwarded by a centrifugal pump to a rotating strainer.
The pomace residues are removed here, after which the water is returned to the
press by a centrifugal pump and added to the mash in the extraction zone. The
water is absorbed by the mash and extracts soluble solids from it.
In the press zone the mash is further pressed and the juice recovered on trays
from which it is discharged to a tank at the bottom of the press.
Screening Apple juice, as it comes from the press, contains more or less finely mixed par-
ticles. To remove these particles the juice is usually screened. The screen may
be a cylinder of stainless steel of approximately 100 to 150 mesh which re-
volves on a system of rollers. Another type is a fixed cylinder which is contin-
uously brushed on the inside. Yet another type is a vibrating flat screen.
The juice flows in from a pipe at one end and passes through the screen into a
tank below while the particles are retained by the screen. The screened juice is
pumped to the buffer tanks for further treatment.

Technical Training Centre 1/9611 TM-00018 Training Document. For training purpose only. 8

Heat treatment /
pre-evaporation
Enzymatic treatment
Fining / sedimentation
Technical Training Centre 1/9611
Clarification
Before clarification, fining and enzymatic treatment takes place, is the juice to
be heat treated. This can be made as a pasteurisation step as such or it can be
combined with an pre-evaporation in a evaporator.
The reason for the heat treatment is to deactivate all microorganisms and to
solubilize the starch so that it can be degradated by the enzyme Amylase. For
this a temperature of 86 °C is required. Fruit enzymes does not need to be de-
activated if clear juice is to be produced so there is no need to go to the 95 °C
needed for enzyme deactivation.
Fining and depectinisation are usually done in one operation. Enzymatic treat-
ment is by preference made at the elevated temperature of 55 °C.
The purpose of breaking down pectin with enzymes is threefold:
1. To reduce the viscosity of the juice.
2. To reduce the amount of undissolved pectin, so that gel formations in the
evaporator is prevented.
3. To increase the filtrability of the juice.
Enzymes are added in a battery of tanks connected in series to provide a con-
tinuous output of depectinised juice. The juice is fed into one of the depectini-
sation tanks at 50 °C. While the juice is being fed to the tank an enzyme
solution containing pectolytic and amylatic enzymes is metered into it by a
proportioning pump. Enzyme solution can also be added, in one go, to the tank
at beginning of its filling.
It takes about an hour to fill a tank. The agitator in the tank runs throughout the
filling sequence. When the tank is full, agitation is allowed to continue for an-
other 10-20 minutes until all pectins are degraded.
There are a number of enzyme preparations recommended for depectinisation
of apple juice. The action of all these enzymes depends on their ability to hy-
drolyse pectin, thereby reducing the viscosity of the juice and making it easier
to filter.
Depectinisation is verified by an alcohol test. One part of filtered juice is
mixed with 1.5-2.0 parts of 96% alcohol to which 1% concentrated hydrochlo-
ric acid has been added. If flocculation has not occurred within 1 to 2 minutes,
no pectin is present. Should flocculation occur, then the pectin breakdown is
insufficient and enzymation must be prolonged, or the juice must be subjected
to further enzymation. On no account should the juice be allowed to go on to
further treatment before the alcohol test has shown a negative result.
Bentonite fining. The freshly pressed, screened apple juice is heat treated at
85 °C and immediately cooled to 50 °C. After that the pectin and starch test
are negative, bentonite suspension is added. Bentonite adsorbs proteines and
prevent post clouding caused by proteines. The quantity used is normally 500
to 600 g of bentonite soaked in water per 1000 litres of juice.
Gelatin fining. The traditional fining agent for apple juice is gelatin, a protein
which carries a positive charge at the pH of apple juice (approx. 3.5). When
added in water solution it forms an insoluble floc by electrostatic neutralisa-
tion of other juice debris, which mostly carries a negative charge. The floc
slowly settles, leaving the juice clarified.
Typical levels of gelatin addition are 50-500 g per 1,000 litres. However, it is
very unwise to rely on the standard addition of a fixed amount of gelatin to all
juices, because excess residual gelatin may remain in solution and cause fur-
ther precipitation as post bottling haze (PBH) when denatured after pasteuri-
sation. Worse still, the addition of excess gelatin during fining can lead to
“charge-reversal” which stabilises the gelatin-tannin complex as a positively
charged colloid which will never flocculate. It is therefore important to carry
TM-00018 Training Document. For training purpose only. 9
 out a small-scale fining test on every batch of new juice to establish the mini-
mum level of gelatin required for clarification. Gelatins must be brought into
solution slowly and metered carefully into the juice.
The action of gelatin in clarifying apple juice is slow, and it can take many
hours for the floc to form fully. Test fining is therefore advisable. The quality
of gelatin used for clarification is of high importance. It is best to use an edible
gelatin in powder form which is dissolved in water prior to use. Gelatine also
adsorbs polyphenolcomplexis, specially them which are oxidated. This results
in a lighter colour and a reduction in bitter taste.
Silica sol, reduces the risk of overfining by precipitating excess gelatin. Silica
sol is required if the fining is made at elevated temperature (50 °C).
Filtration Conventional filtration. Traditionally depectinized and fined apple juice has
been filtered using diatomaceous earth, also called simply “earth filtration”.
Usually the apple juice in the fining tanks are allowed to sediment for several
hours. A tank bottom of 10-30% of the tank content is produced containing the
suspended solids together with all the fining substances. A nearly clear top
fraction of 90-70% can be filtered in a earth filter. The bottom sediment must
then be prefiltered in a vacuum filter before it is filtered together with the top
fraction.
Ultrafiltration (UF) offers many advantages to the apple juice processor,
since it would appear to combine both fining and filtration steps in one opera-
tion.
The juice must be depectinised and free from starch before UF to ensure rea-
sonable flux rates and to prevent rapid clogging of membranes. Even so, oper-
ation at 50-55 °C is necessary to reduce the viscosity of the juice.
Turbulent or aearated flow of the feedstock juice must be avoided, because this
induces polyphenol oxidation which contributes to membrane fouling and lat-
er to haze formation in the permeate.

Evaporation
The juice from the buffer tank is fed by a centrifugal pump to a balance tank
in front of a plate heat exchanger, in which the juice is first regeneratively pre-
heated by outgoing concentrate and condensates. It then proceeds to a final
heating section where it is heated to evaporation temperature with circulating
hot water.
The heated juice passes in succession through the first and second evaporator
effects, where it is preconcentrated to about half its original volume.
Aroma recovery At least 10% of the product, including volatile aroma substances, is vaporised
in the evaporator, then distilled in a distillation column to yield an aroma con-
centrate that is added to the finished juice before it is packaged. The juice leav-
ing the evaporator is cooled, first regeneratively and then with water in a third
section of the heat exchanger.
This juice is now heat treated as the first stage of the evaporator usually oper-
ates at 86 °C or higher. The pre-concentrated juice may now be cooled to
55 °C and be delivered to the clarification block of the plant. From there it is
returned back to the evaporator after filtration.
The preconcentrated juice is fed via an intermediate tank to the main evapora-
tor, where it is concentrated in a short time to its full strength of 68-72 °Brix.
The concentrate is then cooled to 10 °C in the plate heat exchanger before go-
ing into storage.

Technical Training Centre 1/9611 TM-00018 Training Document. For training purpose only. 10
Cooling of 72 °Brix and
60 °Brix concentrate
Concentrate handling
Cloudy apple juice
Technical Training Centre 1/9611
Juice concentrate is pumped from the buffer tanks after the evaporator via a
plate heat exchanger to tank storage. The concentrate is normally cooled to
about +15 °C before it is filled in tanks.
Although clear apple juice concentrate is a relatively stable commodity and
can be kept almost indefinitely without deterioration, it can nevertheless suffer
a marked loss of quality if it is badly stored and handled. A further considera-
tion is that of storage temperature. At 15 °C or less, concentrates and aroma
essences will remain essentially unchanged for at least 6 months and probably
longer. At 20 or 30 °C, however, there is a noticeable effect on the quality of
the redilluted juice, the effects being proportional to storage time and temper-
ature; 2 weeks at 30 °C can produce detectable changes. Caramelised flavours
develop and browning is increased because of the Maillard reaction between
reducing sugars and amino acids at high concentration.
Clear apple juice concentrate can be handled and stored in an inert atmosphere
to prevent mould which could otherwise occur.
Products
As its name suggests, this is a turbid light-coloured juice in which solids do
not sediment. This gives the product a stable cloudiness with pale colour. Its
taste is very close to that of freshly apples. Cloudy apple juice can be a
45 °Brix concentrate that reconstitutes to a product containing less than 0.5%
solids. The Japanese prefer this cloudy product, which they regard as closer to
nature.
Efficient production of cloudy apple juice involves a number of critical proc-
ess steps. To maintain the freshness of the juice, residence time and exposure
to air during processing must be minimised. Sufficient removal of suspended
solids is required to obtain an end product of stable cloudiness.
TM-00018 Training Document. For training purpose only. 11
 6
Orange Juice Concentrate
Production

Technical Training Centre

 Orange Juice
Concentrate
Production
Orange juice processing
- An introduction
The fruit itself
There are four principal groups of oranges of commercial importance in the
manufacture of orange juice products;
• Citrus sinensis (sweet orange)
• Citrus reticulata (mandarin or tangerine oranges)
• Citrus aurantium (sour or bitter oranges)
• Hybrid oranges (tangors)
The far most important group is the Citrus sinensis (sweet orange). In several
markets only juice from Citrus Sinensis varieties may be labelled orange juice.
The figure below shows the main orange producing areas in the world.
The two largest regions of citrus juice production (~80% of the world produc-
tion) are Florida and Brazil.

Italy Turkey
Spain
California Morocco
Florida Cyprus
China
Mexico Israel
Central America
Brazil

Argentina South Africa

Australia

Technical Training Centre 1/9610 TM-00004 Training Document. For training purpose only. 1
 Florida
Approximately 95% of the orange crop harvested in Florida is processed into
juice or juice products. A combination of climatic conditions, variety (type) of
trees and soil conditions result in fruit that has a low appeal in the fresh fruit
market, but produces a very high quality of juice.
The outside appearance of the fruit is unappealing to the consumer. The skin
is not uniform in colour, and is often quite green or yellow. The peel is quite
difficult to remove from the edible part of the fruit, which further contributes
to the unattractiveness of the Florida fruit to the fresh market.
However, the peel is normally quite thin and the Florida oranges are round in
shape which makes them ideal for mechanical dejuicing systems.
In Florida, the main varieties for sweet oranges are:
Early season (light in colour, and low in oil content):
• Hamlin (October to January)
• Parson Brown (October to January)
Midseason:
• Pineapple (December to March)
Late Season (stronger in colour, but have a higher oil content - especially to-
wards the end of the season when the fruit is mature):
• Valencia (February to July)
Florida also processes some mandarin and hybrid fruit:
• Dancy tangerine (December to March)
• Murcott (December to April)
• Temple (December to April)
• Tangelo (December to April)
Consequently, the Florida orange juice processing season is between late Oc-
tober and late May/early June. Variations occur from year to year, depending
upon the prevailing climatic conditions. In recent years, some processors have
been forced to start up processing early (using immature fruit) and even extend
the season beyond early June (with very mature fruit) to produce NFC (Not
From Concentrate) juice.
In order to limit the effects of seasonal variation on juice quality, they will then
store that product to blend with juice from another part of the season. This is
further explained in the chapter on NFC production.

Brazil
In Brazil, sweet oranges comprise the bulk of the crop:
• Pera Rio (June to mid July; mid August to mid December)
• Pera Natal (September to mid January)
• Valencia (mid July to September; mid October to January)
The Brazilian fruit tends to be smaller, less round, and to have a thicker peel.
The normal processing season for the Brazilian plants is from late June
through to early February.
The Brazilian oranges are also sold on the fresh fruit market. The quantity used
in Brazil for direct consumption has increased over the last few years.
The Brazilian processing industry, which developed rapidly during the 1970’s,
has prioritized its development on the production of concentrate.

Technical Training Centre 1/9610 TM-00004 Training Document. For training purpose only. 2
 The Florida industry is rapidly changing the emphasis of production to NFC
juices. Two factors influence these directions:
1. Consumer markets. Florida is geographically well placed to a major con-
sumer market which has a high interest in quality, and a relatively high
average disposable income. Not from concentrate products can easily gain
consumer acceptance. Brazil is presently a long distance from such con-
sumer markets. Shipping costs are significant.
2. Fruit maturity. Climatic conditions and grove management practices in
Brazil are also different to those of Florida. These two factors strongly in-
fluence the performance of the tree and the development of the fruit. In
Florida, the grove management is more intense. More attention is given to
the selection and development of the type of tree. The management of the
groves is more intense as regards pest and weed control. It is also the prac-
tice in Florida to irrigate the groves.
Climatic conditions also effect the bloom (the time when the tree flowers
or blossoms before the new crop of fruit is “set”). In Florida, the bloom oc-
curs uniformally and during a very short period, some two or three weeks.
In Brazil, however, the bloom period occurs over a very wide span of time.
The consequence of this is that at any given time, a tree in Brazil will have
fruit of differing maturity. Since fruit in a specific grove is gathered at one
picking, the crop from that grove will vary in maturity. This variation in
fruit maturity (therefore raw material quality) forces the processor to make
compromises in the juice extraction process, which will effect both quality
and yield of the production.
The Floridian processor therefore has the advantage of being able to select
the optimum processing conditions for the fruit harvested that day, since it
will be of uniform maturity. This is ideal for NFC production.
The Brazilian processor can, on the other hand, through the process of
evaporation, essence recovery and blending of the concentrate, overcome
the variations of quality to provide a consistent concentrated product.

Other varieties outside Florida and Brazil

There are many other varieties throughout the world, each having their special
flavour characteristic or peculiarity. The Navel being one example. The Navel
is often grown for fresh fruit, but some is processed.
One characteristic of the Navel is that after a day’s storage the juice gets a bit-
ter taste. Bitterness often comes from traces of limonin which develops on
processing of the juice. Navel oranges also tend to yield less juice than those
varieties listed above.

Technical Training Centre 1/9610 TM-00004 Training Document. For training purpose only. 3
 The structure of the orange
The peel consists of an outer flavedo layer and an inner albedo layer. The peel
protects the edible portion, endocarp, of the fruit. The colour portion caroten-
oids and the oil vesicles are contained within the flavedo.

Core
Core
Flavedo
Flavedo
Flavedo
Flavedo
Segments
Segments

Albedo
Albedo
OilOilsacs
sacs

Structure of a
halved orange
JuiceJuice
vesicles
vesicles
Seeds
Seeds

Within the albedo (the white spongy layer) flaveanones, limonin, pectin and
fiber are found.
The inner portion, or endocarp, of the fruit consists of segments, outer mem-
brane, segment wall, core and seeds. Within the segments are the juice vesicles
which are held together by a waxy substance. Droplets of juice oil and lipids
are present in these juice vesicles.
The citrus juice is a liquid expressed from the juice vesicles and contains
(among other things) vitamins, minerals, sugars, organic acids, amino acids,
phenolics, nucleotides, enzymes, limonoids, lipids, proteins, pectins and col-
our.
The objective of the extraction process is to separate out the juice portion of
the fruit while avoiding the incorporation of the peel or the fibrous portions of
the endocarp. The enzymes and any microbial infections must then be deacti-
vated with minimal damage to the vitamins, acids and flavour components.
The profitable operation of a citrus processing plant will achieve the above,
and reclaim salable components from the peel and residual parts of the endo-
carp.

Orange fruit products

• Juice. This product can be either as a single strength “not from concentrate”
product in frozen, pasteurised or aseptic form (called Not From Concentrate
or NFC); or as a concentrate normally as a frozen product (called Frozen
Concentrated Orange Juice or FCOJ).
• Pulp wash. This is a product reclaimed from the washing of the pulp of the
fruit. Pulp wash contains soluble fruit solids (≈ the sugars) and is often used
in the fruit drinks formulation as a source of fruit sugars and, due to the pec-
tin content, as a clouding agent to provide body and mouth-feel.
• Pulp. Unwashed (and sometimes even washed) pulp cells can be added back
to juice and juice drinks to provide mouth feel and give a natural appearance
to the product. Pulp is usually distributed frozen (20 kg boxes are most com-
mon) but aseptic bag-in-box pulp is beginning to become available.

Technical Training Centre 1/9610 TM-00004 Training Document. For training purpose only. 4