Production

The Production Process

The same way juice is conserved at home, similarly the industrial production of juice begins with a ripe fruit, berry or vegetable. The difference is in the volume and in the diversity of taste: the GUTTA juice that can be bought in shops is produced in incomparably larger volumes and is often made from the fruit growing outside our latitudes, e.g., oranges, pineapples, grapes, peaches, mangoes, pomegranates, etc. For these reasons, the juice in shops is made from the juice concentrate. Production of juice concentrates is widely used throughout the world, because, as we know, the fruit of which the juice is squeezed grows and ripens in one side of the world, but we want to consume the final product - juice in a different place.

Juice concentrate and its preparation. The juice concentrates are produced from ripe fruit, and they contain natural sugars, minerals, pectin, and of course vitamins. Juice concentrate is a natural substance that evaporating water is extracted from the juice of fully ripe fruit. Fruit must not only be ripe, but also not decayed. The fruit are cleaned and peeled, or their seeds / stones are removed, then the juice is squeezed, from which in the conditions of elevated temperature a certain amount of water is removed, the amount juice decreases 5-6 times. Thus, the juice becomes concentrated or thickened. An example is tomato paste that everyone has probably seen - it is also concentrated tomato juice or tomato juice concentrate.

Preparation of juice. From the country of manufacture juice concentrates are usually received hermetically packaged in bags, inserted into barrels, or frozen (- 25°C). So that a product may be called juice, exactly the same amount of water which was removed from the fruit during the preparation of concentrate is added to the concentrate. Water and the concentrate are mixed in preparation tanks, and the prepared juice is checked whether it meets the required quality criteria. The prepared juice is then pasteurized – it is heated to 95 - 98°C and kept at this temperature for 30 seconds. 30 seconds is the best time in which micro-organisms are destroyed, but the valuable nutrients remain. After the pasteurization the juice is cooled immediately and ready for filling. Juice us no longer in contact with the ambient air - it is filled with a special Tetra Pak packaging material, which up to 3/4 consists of cardboard, made from natural wood fibres. Tetra Pak package consists of several layers: foil protects from light and air, polyethylene layers protect from humidity.

In an unopened pack the industrially produced juice is protected from light and air, therefore they remain fresh and healthy longer.