MXPA99011335A - Citric products that incorporate pu processing - Google Patents

Abstract

The present invention relates to citrus products that incorporate components of the pulp material separated from a source of citrus juice. The invention is especially beneficial in relation to grapefruit sources. Naringin or other levels of the bitter taste agent are significantly reduced in all phases of the critical source, including the pulp components. In a specific application, the citrus product is a grapefruit juice that is identified organically as grapefruit juice when left alone but not organoleptically identified as grapefruit juice when mixed with other sources of fruity juice.

Description

"CITRUS PRODUCTS THAT INCORPORATE PULP PROCESSING" DESCRIPTION BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION This invention relates generally to products of citrus origin and the processes for elaborating them. More particularly, the invention separates a source of citrus juice into a permeation liquid and a retention material that contains virtually all of the pulp present in the citrus juice source. This retention material is subjected to diafiltration, which reduces the levels of bitter taste agents such as naringin within pulpy material, and certain diafiltration products are processed as or in useful juices and / or haze agents having characteristics "Soft-flavored as desired, citrus fruits have long been recognized as valuable sources of important nutrients, and more recently, the health benefits and benefits of disease retention or treatment from citrus sources have become more fully recognized as advantageous and beneficial when ingested.Therefore, there is a general belief that increasing the admission of foods of citrus origin is an object - beneficial and important in the total project of human health. The segments of the population are less than enthusiastic about certain of the characteristics of citrus products, such as bitter taste, acidity, and other thick consistency. Concerns about these characteristic types are possibly more prevalent when the citrus product or ingredient is one that originates from grapefruit. Other citrus fruits can present these types of concerns, including the fruits of naranaja, tangerine and lemon. In terms of juice volume and percentage of aversion in the population that consume juice, grapefruit products present both the greatest challenge and the greatest potential promise. So far, grapefruit resources have been underutilized due to these types of characteristics of grapefruit sources, whose characteristics can be considered objectionable for certain segments of the population. Numerous approaches have been taken in the past that incorporate filtration and ion exchange technology to treat citrus juice sources with a view to preparing a variety of different products and byproducts. These approaches typically do not essentially change the characteristics of or function in the components of the pulp. It has been known for a long time - - time that the pulp of the citrus fruit can be separated from the citrus juice. Frequently, this involves removing the pulp in order to provide a so-called clarified juice. In those cases, the separated pulp is discarded, used in low value products such as animal feed and stored for reintroduction of some in juice products that are formulated to have high pulp contents. Of course it will be seen that, in many cases, the pulp of the citrus fruit is not used in a high value manner. Due to this and other reasons, citrus fruits are not used to their full potential, and many valuable nutrients are not used in a way that directly benefits people. This is particularly the case for separate components that include citrus fruit pulp. Therefore there is a need for approaches that allow a more complete realization of the potential of citrus fruits, and especially grapefruit sources. Many mixed juice products are sold today. Most of these products include as a main component that has been known as "stuffing" juice. A filling juice is a relatively inexpensive juice source that is suitable for mixing with other juices or juice flavors that are generally known - - co or "key" flavors. These key flavor or flavoring juices are generally dominant in the senses, especially in the sense of taste with the result that a mixed juice product may contain relatively low levels of key juice sources while still achieving mixed flavor. desired of the key juice (s). Previously, the main filling juices have been apple juice and / or grape juice, particularly white grape juice. These traditional types of filling juices are usually considerably lower in nutrition content than citrus juices. They are advantageous as filling juices due to their relatively low cost and relatively mild flavor. Accordingly, there is a need for a relatively inexpensive and mild juice source that has a higher nutritional value than these types of traditional filler juices. A natural source of a turbid soft agent or pulp is also needed for use in juice products and other potential uses. Filling these needs with citrus sources would allow juice products, turbidity agents, mixed juice products, and combinations thereof that are more nutritious in the past without significantly increasing their cost, or even reducing the total cost.

COMPENDIUM OF THE INVENTION In accordance with the present invention citrus fruit sources are processed into a variety of unique products that are relatively low in bitter taste attributes, which may be of reduced acidity and exhibit attributes of clarity that can be made to suit the customer in accordance with the real or perceived needs without significantly increasing the bitter taste or acidity. The products include a crystalline filler juice, a cloudy filler juice, a turbid juice and a mild haze agent or a source of soft pulp. Each of these products is entirely natural. The nutritive agents present in the citrus fruit source are effectively recovered in one or more of the products. Included is a diafiltration of a pulp-rich retention material from the filtration of a citrus juice supply or a concentrated citrus juice supply. A reduction of the bitter taste agent results. The permeation and / or retention material of the diafiltration will be further processed and will be included within one or more of the final products. Accordingly, a general object of the present invention is to provide improved citrus juice products and processes incorporating soft pulp components and / or by-products. Another object of the present invention is to provide improved citrus fruit processing and products that improve the total yield of citrus fruit sources. Another object of this invention is to provide an improved citrus juice product which is the crystalline filling juice which incorporates a permeation material from a source of citrus pulp. Another object of this invention is to provide a turbid filler juice incorporating a smooth pulp or a turbidity agent retention material from a citrus juice pulp source. Another object of the present invention is to provide an improved, turbid citrus fruit juice incorporating a smooth pulp or paste or a haze agent which is a retention material from a citrus pulp source.Another object of this invention is provide a filling juice that is recognized as a specific citrus juice, such as grapefruit juice, but which can not typically be identified as this citrus juice when it is mixed with a variety of key juice sources in a mixed juice product prepared .

- These and other objects, features and advantages of the present invention will become apparent from and will be clearly understood through a consideration of the following detailed description.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS In the course of this description, reference will be made to the accompanying drawings, wherein: Figure 1 is a schematic representation of an embodiment of the invention that can be used to prepare a crystalline filling juice; and Figure 2 is a schematic representation of an embodiment of the invention that can be used to prepare a cloudy filler juice and / or a citrus juice.

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED MODALITIES The present invention is directed towards products that originate from citrus fruits and processes to elaborate them. Citrus fruits include grapefruit, naran, tangerine and lemon fruits. The invention is especially well suited for grapefruit products. For reasons of convenience, the citrus fruit that is essentially discussed almost exclusively in the present is grapefruit, and the bitter-tasting agent of citrus fruit that is mainly discussed in the narin-gina. It is generally believed that the principles of this invention, even when applicable to other sources of citrus fruit, are more advantageously applied to grapefruit sources, both because of their relative abundance and aversion with the-, which products of grapefruit juice are considered by * a large segment of the population. The present invention takes advantage of the abundance of grapefruit sources while satisfactorily indicating the concerns regarding the perceived negative attributes of the products that originate from grapefruit. As a result, previously unavailable products are provided, including filler juices that originate from grapefruit and juices that have mild haze agents that originate from grapefruit. Referring to Figure 1, a citrus juice 11 is the source material. It can be a grapefruit juice or a concentrated grapefruit juice. A typical juice would have a level of solids or soluble sugars of 8 ° -15 ° Brix. It is well known in the art that these Brix levels will be considerably higher when the juice source is provided in a more concentrated condition, so that these corresponding levels of solids or sugars can be as high as 60 ° Brix and above. The citrus juice 11, when provided as a non-concentrated grapefruit juice, will have a level of an agent (s) with a natural bitter taste that varies with the fruit of origin. A typical scale is between approximately 500 parts per million and approximately 1200 parts per million naringin for grapefruit sources. The supply 11 will also have a level of acidity that occurs naturally, typically mainly citric acid, of between about 0.70 weight percent to about 1.20 weight percent. The source 11 of citrus juice flows into a membrane filtration unit 12. Typically, the unit 12 will incorporate an ultrafiltration membrane. A typical membrane of this type will have a minimum pore size of approximately 30 Angstrom units, which is generally equal to a Molecular Weight Cutoff (MWCO) of approximately 2000. The maximum pore size of the typical ultrafiltration membrane is approximately 1000 Angstrom units (1 micron), which is usually equal to 100,000 MWCO. The filtration unit 12 separates the flow from the source 11 of citrus juice towards a permeation material which moves towards the transfer member 13 and a retention material - which moves towards - a member 14 of -transfer. This permeation material that has been filtered continues to have the Brix level, the naringin level and the acidity level that approximate those of the source 11 of citrus juice. It is essentially free of any solid pulp of turbidity. The retention material of the filtration unit 12 retains virtually all natural solids or pulp material. This retention material can usually be termed as the citrus pulp. It also has a Brix level, a level of naringin and a level of acidity that approximate those of the source 11 of citrus juice. A diafiltration unit 15 receives the citrus pulp retention material from a transfer member 14. As is generally known in the art, a diafiltration unit achieves filtration through the use of a washing system that applies a liquid to the filtration medium. It has been found that this approach allows the soluble components within the citrus pulp retention material to dissolve in order to pass through the filtration medium, while the pulp solids are collected as a diafiltration retention material. In an illustrated arrangement, between about 75 percent and 90 percent of the soluble components find their introduction into the diafiltration permeation material and into the transfer medium 16. It has been found that, continuing with this approach, most of the following components find their introduction into the diafiltration permeation material: naringin or other bitter taste agent (s), sugars, acid, vitamins and nutrients including vitamin C , minerals and similar. On the contrary, only between about 10 percent and 25 percent of these same components remain in the diafiltration retention material, which passes to a transfer member 17. This diafiltration retention material is a completely natural soft turbidity agent. It can have a naringin level between about 20 parts per million and about 100 parts per million. The highest naringin levels can be selected, as the need dictates. It has an acidity level of no more than about 0.3 weight percent. The highest acidity levels can be selected. Its sugar content is relatively low, this agent being soft turbidity at approximately 2 ° to 3 ° Brix. This completely natural, gentle turbidity agent passes from the collection container 21 into a receptacle 18. It has been found to be suitable as a source of pulp or "turbidity" for a filling juice or a product of - juice alone It has been found that this product can be used as an additive, such as through the transfer member 20 for juice in accordance with an aspect of this invention. As an additive, it provides an all-natural mild haze agent which has been found to be an instrument for providing visual cues that allow a consumer to identify the citrus source, particularly a source of grapefruit, even for a juice having a level of naringin very low and that has a reduced acidity level. The amount of relative percentage- of the diafiltered materials varies with the specific type of equipment within which the diafiltration takes place. It also varies in accordance with the volume of the liquid, typically water, which is used in the diafiltration equipment, such as from the washing source 19. More particularly, the volume of wash liquid from the source 13 will be about 2 times h-about 5 times the volume of the citrus pulp retention material entering the diafiltration unit 15 from the transfer member 14. It has been found that appropriate results can be achieved in a typical large-scale diafiltration unit if the wash volume is between about 2.5 and about 4 times the volume of the citrus pulp entering the unit 15 of - diafiltration Preferably, the washing liquid is at a temperature between about 27 ° C and about 54 ° C. Depending on the relative amount of water within the all-natural soft haze agent, it is desirable to reduce its water level in order to provide a somewhat more concentrated haze agent. In this case, the all-natural soft turbidity agent will move from the area 21 to a separation apparatus 22 which is suitable for separating liquids and solids. A typical separation apparatus is a filter press. Other options include a centrifuge, a decanter, or a vibratory press. It can also include traditional cross-flow filtration filters or even devices that use vibrating filter technology. The passage of all the completely natural soft turbidity agent through the separation apparatus 22 forms a pulp washing by-product 23 and a completely natural smooth concentrated pulp or turbidity agent. This concentrated product has properties similar to the all-natural mild turbidity agent 18 as adjusted by the reduced water level. If desired, this could be added to a juice product according to the invention.

With further reference to Figure 1, the flow of the permeation material or the flow of the pulp by-product from the diafiltration unit can be moved from the transfer member 16 to a section 25 for eliminating bitterness and / or removing acidity. This flow contains essentially all the nutrients from the flow to the diafiltration unit. This passage may lie directly towards the section 25 or towards the transfer member 13 before it enters the section 25 for eliminating bitterness and / or eliminating acidity. In section 25, one or more bitterness elimination columns 26 are included. This line of elimination of bitterness is generally known in the art and results in a considerable reduction of naturally occurring bitterness producing agents. Typically, the adsorption resins are used in section 25. Commercial adsorption systems are available for use in section 25. Examples include systems incorporating ion exchange resins such as cationic polystyrene adsorbent resins, cationic acrylic adsorbent resins , polyamide resins, anionic polystyrene copolymers that liberate chloride groups, basic anionic polystyrene resins having quaternary ammonium active groups and other suitable resins or other deionizing agents. adsorption that are known and can be obtained in the art for use in these types of systems. Examples of ion exchange adsorbents and resins for removing bitterness and / or eliminating acidity are found in U.S. Patent Nos. 4,297,220, Number 4,439,458, Number 4,514,427 and Number 5,817,354, each incorporated herein by reference. For grapefruit sources, the main bitterness agent to be removed is naringin, which is the predominant glycoside that occurs naturally in grapefruit. Other agents that lend bitterness can be removed here. Flavanone glycoside hesperidin is predominant in citrus fruits of orange and tangerine. The compounds that fall within the limonoid group are also found in citrus fruits, including limonin and nomilin. These are types of bitter-tasting agents that are reduced considerably within the columns to eliminate bitterness. ~ With specific reference to grapefruit, when a considerable amount of the naringin content is removed from the diafiltration permeation material and the membrane filtration permeation material, the result is a grapefruit juice that is considerably less bitter than the juice of grapefruit not processed. When the level of naringin is specially reduced in a way - considerable, it may be difficult to identify the resulting juice as originating from grapefruit. It will be appreciated that variable naringin levels can be selected, for example, to be between about 20 parts per million and about 200 parts per million naringin. For many products, the level of naringin will be between approximately 50 parts per million and 150 parts per million. A particularly mild grapefruit juice product or after it has been removed from its bitterness that is suitable for use as a crystalline filling juice that can be recognized as grapefruit juice (approximately 200 parts per million, typically no greater than) when tested alone , has a naringin level of about 80 parts per million and about 180 parts per million, frequently no more than about 120 parts per million. This can usually be referred to as a crystalline filling juice. In many cases, it is also desired to reduce the acidity of the source 11 of citrus juice. This may be the case for a diafiltration permeation material from the transfer member 16. In these cases, the section 25 includes one or more acidification removal columns 27. The acidification removal equipment represented by column 27 is generally known.

- - It has the ability to significantly reduce the acid content of citrus juices. Many citrus juices have a natural acidity of at least about 0.5 weight percent. A typical acid content after passing through column 27 will be between about 0.3 percent and about 0.9 percent by weight. A typical scale is between about 0.4 percent and about 0.8 percent by weight of acid, typically as citric acid. Acidity can also have a role in identifying a juice as a specific citrus juice. For example, when it is desired to detect the juice as a grapefruit juice, it is often desirable to have an acidity level generally between about 0.4 percent and about 0.8 percent by weight. It has been found that maintaining this level of acidity which can be increased by adding a relatively small amount (for example as low as about 2 weight percent) of the completely natural smooth turbidity agent results in the recognition of the juice product as a product of grapefruit juice, but without any negative flavor that has remained as being associated with naringin in grapefruit juice. If the crystalline filling juice according to this aspect of the invention is only removed from its - - bitterness or eliminates both its bitterness and its acid, passes out of section 25 and into receptacle 28 appropriate for this crystalline filling juice. When this crystalline filling juice is processed, therefore, completely, when it originates from grapefruit, it can be referred to as CDDGT (clarified grapefruit juice, subjected to bitterness elimination, and deacidified). Referring now to Figure 2, with this embodiment, a certain agent or all of the completely natural soft haze agent is added to the crystalline juice of the section 55 for eliminating bitterness and / or eliminating acidity. If desired, this addition can be made within a receptacle of the cloudy juice product 58, as generally illustrated. The excess of the completely natural smooth turbid agent can be collected in the receptacle 48, if not all will be used directly to form the product 58 of cloudy juice. The turbid juice product 58 according to this embodiment of the invention is useful as a turbid filler juice or as a turbid juice only. The last product is a unique grapefruit juice that is easily recognized as a grapefruit juice while avoiding which segment of the population finds objectionable in a non-processed grapefruit juice especially the content of - naringin and to a lesser degree acidity, while still maintaining virtually the same level of pulp within grapefruit juice. With this invention, the pulp itself is not a source of objectionable levels of naringin or acidity, but instead the soft pulp or turbidity agent is reattached to the modified liquid component flowing from section 55. When the product is going to be a cloudy filling juice, usually a smaller amount of pulp can be added than for a cloudy juice. Generally speaking, in order for a juice to be properly labeled in accordance with government regulations, it must be organoleptically recognized or identifiable as a grapefruit juice. Typically, taste tests are instrumental in determining whether or not a juice is recognized as a specific juice, for example, a grapefruit juice. A crystalline filling juice having a naringin level within the range of 120 parts per million and an acidity within the scale of 0.8 percent by weight and a Brix value within the 10 ° Brix scale, may or may not recognized as grapefruit juice by a majority of people tasting the flavor, while adding all of the all-natural mild turbidity agent to this formulation at a level of at least about 5 weight percent, based on the total weight of the filling juice, results in a cloudy filling juice that has been consistently identified organolépicamente as grapefruit juice by a majority of people who constitute a majority of people who are xledican to determine the taste. Importantly, when this same type of cloudy filler juice is used to prepare a mixed juice product, with key juice sources, the fact that the product includes a grapefruit juice as one of the juices is not easily detectable. This provides the advantage of providing a filling juice which is a true natural grapefruit juice without the negative characteristic sometimes perceived of the flavor of grapefruit juice and especially the bitterness associated therewith. This product has the positive nutrition characteristics of grapefruit juice without the negatives that are perceived by a large segment of the population. The source of the citrus juice 41 flows to the membrane filtration unit 42, with the permeation material flowing out to the transfer member 43 and the citrus pulp retention material flowing to the transfer member 44 and into the unit 45. of diafiltration. The wash source 49 flows into the diafiltration unit 45, while the transfer member 46 receives the diafiltration permeation material and the transfer member 47 receives the diafiltration retention material. The bitterness elimination columns 56 and / or the diafiltration columns 57 of section 55 function essentially as described above with respect to section 26. With more specific reference to the diafiltration units 15 and 45, they can be used. a number of different units. It includes those that incorporate tubular ultrafiltration membrane cartridges. Others are of types that use hollow fiber and ceramic ultrafiltration and / or microfiltration cartridges. Illustrations of what is disclosed herein are provided in the following Examples.

Example 1 A grapefruit concentrate was passed through a hollow fiber microfiltration unit, the permeation material being passed through a Koch resin column of bitterness elimination. During the elimination of the bitterness, the adsorption of naringin to the surface area of the resin material of the commercial unit was carried out. The level of naringin - the original was 735 parts per million, and the juice permeation material was removed from the bitterness to a level of naringin of about 120 parts per million. The retention material was passed to a hollow fiber microfilter unit including two Koch Supercore modules. 30,280 liters of the microfiltration retention material were added to 30,280 liters of water and the resulting slurry was circulated through a Niro ultrafiltration crossflow filtration unit, and 30,280 liters of the permeation material were removed. This profile was repeated four times until the soluble solids / sugars within the retention material decreased to less than 1.0 ° Brix. The initial level was 10.87 ° Brix. This diafiltration was found to be highly satisfactory to decrease the naringin concentration from the original value of 735 parts per million to a value in the final diafiltration retention material of 86 parts per million. This represented an 88 percent reduction in naringin levels, this having been achieved with four equal volume washes (30,280 liters). The initial acid level was 0.88 weight percent. During the final diafiltration, the retention material had an acidity of 0.11 percent by weight. The analysis indicated that a very large percentage of the vitamin - C was removed during this diafiltration and passed to the permeation material. The initial flow to the diafiltration unit had a vitamin C content of 25.89 milligrams per 100 milliliters, and the final retention material from the diafiltration had a vitamin C level of 3.02 milligrams per 100 milliliters. A color analysis indicated that there was some change in color, but not much. For example, the flow to the diafiltration unit was analyzed having an index called OJ of 31.2. After completing the diafiltration, the retention material had an OJ index of 28.7. The transmittance "L" was 66.30 inlet and 65.38 in the final retention material. The input transmittance "a" was -4.61, and the value of the final retention material was -5.14. The transmittance "b" was 18.83 before the diafiltration and 12.04 after the last diafiltration. After the second diafiltration wash, the initial naringin level of 735 parts per million was reduced to 223 parts per million in the retention material. After the third wash, the level of naringin was reduced to 141 parts per million, with the fourth level of washing being 86 parts per million. The temperature of the initial wash water was 28.5 ° C. Each subsequent wash was generally higher in temperature, - being the highest temperature of 51 ° C. The average wash liquid temperature during the diafiltration operation was 45.5 ° C.

Example 2 This approach of Example 1 was generally repeated. The feeding volume was 22,710 liters of the pulp of the retention material and 22,710 liters of water for each of the 4 diafiltration washes. The water temperature varied from 34.5 ° C to 47.5 ° C. The level of the initial naringin was 735 parts per million. After the first diafiltration wash, the level of naringin was reduced to 295 parts per million. After two washes, the level was 211 parts per million. After three washes, the level of naringin was 153 parts per million, and after four washes, it was 106 parts per million. The level of sugars or soluble solids for the feed to the diafiltration unit was 10.6 ° Brix. After the diafiltration-final wash, the value was 0.9 ° Brix. The initial acidity was 0.88 before diafiltration. After the final diafiltration wash, the acidity was 0.12 weight percent. After the last diafiltration wash, the level of vitamin - C was reduced to 1.40 milligrams per milliliter. The color values were of an OJ index of 28.2, an "L" transmittance of 66.03, an "a" transmittance of -5.02, and a "b" transmittance of 10.51.

Example 3 Another test was generally carried out along the lines of Example 1. This used a Niro separation with two Koch Super-Core modules. Cross-flow filtration was used in the removal of solubilized naringin from the grapefruit juice retention material. In this test, before making the first addition of diafiltration water, the retention material was concentrated by initiating the cross or cross flow without the addition of water, the water reduction being approximately 99.88 kilograms, designating the reduction the amount of water removed during this initial concentration step. Then, the 49.94 kilograms of the concentrated feed retention material were washed with 49.94 kilograms of water at a temperature of approximately 49 ° C, followed by a second wash of 49.94 kilograms, and then a third wash of 24.97 kilograms of water at approximately 49 °. C. In this way, the diafiltration was 2.5 times the volume of the pulp material that was being diafiltered. The initial naringin level was 750 parts per million, and the final retention material had a naringin level of 130 parts per million. The initial acidity level was 0.91 weight percent, and the final acidity level of the diafiltered retention material was 0.24 weight percent. The initial Brix level was 11.28 ° Brix, and the final level was 4.35 ° Brix, and the diafiltered retention material. The color aspect, the initial OJ index was 30.9 and the final OJ index was 3.7. The transmittance "L" was 67.55 initially and 72.17 after the diafiltration. The transmittance "a" was -4.65 initially and -3.83 after diafiltration. The transmittance "b" was initially 18.44 and 18.32 after dialfiltration.

Example 4 A procedure was again followed as generally described with respect to Example 3. The initial concentration before diafiltration was 1.5 times reduction and full 2 volume diafiltration steps were carried out. The starting material for retention before concentration was as in - - Example 3. After the final diafiltration, the naringin level was 274 parts per million, the acid level was 0.33 weight percent and the sugar content was 4.87 ° Brix.

Example 5 Taste tests were carried out on the grapefruit juice products in order to evaluate whether the specific toronoja juice product was identifiable as grapefruit juice or not. A control grapefruit juice was used in the flavor comparisons, the control juice having these specifications: 3.23 pH, an acidity of 1.3 percent by weight as citric acid, soluble solids of 10 ° Brix, approximately 700 parts per million of Narmgina and a concentration of natural and untreated pulp of 10.5 percent by volume. An "A" formulation of grapefruit juice was prepared, as described herein as having the following specifications: 3.48 pH, an acidity of 0.82 weight percent as citric acid, soluble solids of 7.5 ° Brix, 118 parts per million of naringiña and a concentration of soft pulp of 12.5 percent in volume.

- - Another formulation of grapefruit "B" was prepared as described herein and had the following specifications: pH of 3.47, an acidity of 0.78 weight percent, citric acid, soluble solids of 9.9 ° Brix, 125 parts per million naringin and a soft pulp concentration of 12.5 percent by volume. Each participant was asked if they had consumed grapefruit juice within the last 30 days asking themselves this to distinguish the "users" from the "non-users" of grapefruit. For the "A" juice test, 28.5 percent were placed in the user's category and 71.5 percent were placed in this non-user category. For the "B" juice test, 35 percent were placed in the --- user category and 65 percent were placed in the non-user category. Each tested person underwent the control test and grapefruit juice "A" and asked if he could indetify the "A" juice as grapefruit juice. A total of 71.5 percent identified the juice as grapefruit juice and 28.5 percent did not. For juice "B", 70 percent identified the juice as grapefruit juice ^ and 30 percent did not. A different grapefruit juice product, the "C" juice was tested in the same way. This juice product had these specifications: pH of 3.74, 0.64 percent by weight of acidity such as citric acid, soluble solids of - 9. 8 ° Brix, 125 parts per million of naringin and 12.5% of the completely natural soft pulp, according to the invention. This jury had 22.5 percent of grapefruit users and 77.5 percent of non-users. The 52.5 percent of respondents in total identified this juice product as grapefruit juice, while 47.5 percent did not identify it as grapefruit juice. An additional grapefruit juice formulation, the "D" juice was subjected to the same taste test. It was a crystalline juice as it was made in the present, but it did not contain pulp. Its specifications were as follows: pH of 3.48, 0.82 percent by weight of acidity such as citric acid, soluble solids of 10.1 ° Brix, 123 parts per million of naringin, and no pulp (either untreated or soft). This jury included 30 percent grapefruit juice users and 70 percent non-users. A total of only 42.5 percent of the jurors identified the "D" juice as grapefruit juice, while 57.5 percent of the jurors did not identify it as grapefruit juice. Another formulation of grapefruit juice, the "C" juice was tasted in the same way. The juice "C" had these specifications: pH of 3.48, 0.80 percent by weight of acidity as citric acid, soluble solids of 10.5 ° - Brix, 120.7 parts per million naringin and 3.8 volume percent of the all-natural soft pulp or turbidity agent, according to the invention. This jury had 25 percent users and 75 percent non-users and 60 percent of respondents in total identified this juice product as a grapefruit juice, while 40 percent did not identify it as juice. grapefruit.

Example 6 Additional taste tests were carried out on grapefruit juice products generally as in Example 5 with the exception that the ratio of "users" to "non-users" of grapefruit juice was selected to do more in accordance with the consumption of grapefruit juice in the United States of America. Also, control grapefruit juice was consistently tested after the formulation was evaluated. The control fruit juice used in flavor comparisons had these specifications: pH of 3.23, an acidity of 1.30 percent by weight as citric acid, soluble solids of 10 ° Brix, 642 parts per million of naringin and a concentration of pulp natural and untreated 10.5 percent by volume.

Each participant was asked if they had consumed grapefruit juice within the last 30 days. For each test, 10 percent answered "yes" and these participants constituted the "user" category. Those who answered "no" (90 percent) constituted the category of "non-users" for the following four formulations. An "R" formulation of grapefruit juice was prepared as described herein to have the following specifications: pH of 3.84, an acidity of 0.84 percent by weight as citric acid, soluble solids of 10.1 ° Brix, 118 parts by million naringin and a soft pulp concentration of 5.0 percent by volume. Each person tasted a taste of the "R" juice and then grapefruit control. Everyone wondered if he could identify the "R" juice as grapefruit. A total of 87 percent identified the juice as grapefruit ugo and 13 percent did not. Another "S" formulation of grapefruit was prepared, as described herein, and had the following specifications: pH of 4.47, an acidity of 0.40 weight percent as citric acid, soluble solids of 9.7 ° Brix, 193 parts per million of naringin and a gentle pulp concentration of 5.0 percent by volume. For the juice "S", - 67 percent identified the juice as grapefruit juice and 33 percent did not. A different grapefruit juice product, the "T" juice was tested in the same way. This juice product had these specifications: pH of 4.06, 0.63 percent by weight of acidity, citric acid, soluble solids of 9.9 ° Brix, 174 parts per million of naringin and 5.0 percent of the all-natural soft pulp, in accordance with the invention. 77 percent of respondents in total identified this "T" juice product as grapefruit juice, while 23 percent did not iden tify it as grapefruit juice. An additional grapefruit juice formulation, the "U" juice was subjected to the same taste test. It was a crystalline juice as it was made in the present, but it did not contain pulp. Its specifications were as follows: pH of 3.85, 0.81 percent by weight of acidity as citric acid, soluble solids of 10.8 ° Brix, 129 parts per million of naringin and no pulp (either untreated or soft). A total of 69 percent of the jurors identified the "D" juice as grapefruit juice, while 31 percent of the jurors did not identify it as grapefruit juice.

Example 7 - - A mixture of orange juice and cranberry was prepared and the turbid grapefruit filling juice was added, elaborated generally according to the - Figure 2. This cloudy grapefruit filling juice had the following average specifications: pH of 3.84, acidity of 0.80 percent by weight, citric acid, 150 parts per million of naringin, 4 volume percent of the completely natural turbidity agent or prepared pulp, as described herein. This cloudy grapefruit filling juice was concentrated to 59 ° Brix, after which it had a pH of 5.90. Approximately 1551.85 liters of this cloudy grapefruit juice concentrate concentrate were mixed with approximately 681.30 liters of 65 ° Brix naparilla pulp wash concentrate and pH of 2.84 liters, approximately 492.05 liters of orange concentrate at "65 ° Brix and pH from 4.02 about 454.30 liters of cranberry concentrate at 41. 1 Brix and pH of 11.5, a flavor formulation of orange and cranberry, red dye and about 1211. of the base product.A mixed juice product of this base was made An approximate lot of 3.785 liters of this mixed juice product includes approximately 87.06 liters of this orange-banded base, approximately 435.28 liters of high fructose corn syrup sweetener and - approximately 3,274 liters of water. This single concentration product had an acidity of about 0.5 weight percent acid such as citric acid and is a juice product of about 13 ° Brix. Before mixing, the cloudy filler juice was identifiable as grapefruit juice when it was at a single concentration. In the mixed turbid juice of a single concentration the identifiable flavors were those of naranaj a and cranberry, and not of grapefruit. It will be understood that the embodiments of the present invention that have been described are illustrative of some of the applications of the principles of the present invention. Numerous modifications can be made by those skilled in the art without deviating from the true spirit and scope of the invention.

Claims (32)

R E I V I N D I C A C I O N S

1. A mixed juice product comprising: at least one key flavor juice that provides a key juice component that is present at between about 0.5 and about 50 weight percent of the mixed juice product; and a cloudy grapefruit filling juice that is derived from grapefruit juice, the cloudy grapefruit filling juice constitutes approximately 5 percent to approximately 99.5 percent of the mixed juice product, the cloudy grapefruit filling juice includes (a ) a clarified and bitter-free grapefruit juice component having a naringin concentration of between about 20 parts per million and about 200 parts per million, and (b) an all-natural soft grapefruit pulp turbidity agent -which has a naringin concentration of between about 20 and about 200 parts per million.

2. The mixed juice product according to the claim? , wherein the key juice component includes a plurality of key flavor juices, each being a flavor other than grapefruit.

3. The mixed juice product according to claim 1, wherein the filling juice of - Turbid grapefruit is organoleptically identified as grapefruit juice before adding to the mixed juice product, and the cloudy grapefruit filling juice is not organoleptically identified as grapefruit juice in the mixed juice product.

4. The mixed juice product according to claim 1, wherein the all-natural soft grapefruit pulp turbidity agent comprises between about 2 volume percent of about 12 volume percent of the cloudy grapefruit filling juice.

5. The mixed juice product according to claim 1, wherein the cloudy grapefruit filler juice further includes (c) a by-product of completely natural liquid separated from the cloudy pulp agent, and wherein the cloudy filler juice contains essentially all the nutritious materials of the grapefruit juice from which it is derived.

6. The mixed juice product according to claim 1, wherein the cloudy grapefruit filling juice has an acidity level of between about 0.3 weight percent and about 0.9 weight percent.

The mixed juice product according to claim 1, wherein the naringin concentration of the all natural soft grapefruit pulp turbidity agent is about 50 and about 120 parts per million.

8. A turbid grapefruit juice product prepared from a citrus juice supply has a naringin level of at least about 500 parts per million, the cloudy grapefruit juice product comprises: a clarified juice component free from bitterness that originates from a permeation membrane filtration material from a citrus juice supply, whose permeation material is also removed from any bitter tasting agent; an all-natural mild citrus pulp turbidity agent that is provided by diafiltration of the membrane filtration retention material from the citrus juice supply; and the turbid grapefruit juice product has a naringin content of between about 50 and about 200 parts per million of the turbid grapefruit juice product.

9. The turbid grapefruit juice product according to claim 8, wherein the haze agent component comprises at least about 2 weight percent of the juice product, - and where turbid grapefruit juice is organoleptically identified as grapefruit juice.

The turbid grapefruit juice product according to claim 8, wherein the component of the all-natural soft grapefruit pulp turbidity agent comprises between about 3 volume percent and about 12 volume percent of the juice product of cloudy grapefruit.

11. The turbid grapefruit juice product according to claim 8, wherein the turbid grapefruit filling juice has an acidity level of between about 0.3 weight percent and about 0.9 weight percent.

12. The turbid grapefruit juice product according to claim 8, wherein the naringin content of the cloudy grapefruit juice is no greater than about 120 parts per million.

13. The grapefruit juice product according to claim 8, which further includes a completely natural liquid by-product separated from the pulp turbidity agent component, and wherein the turbid grapefruit juice product retains essentially all of the nutritive materials of the supply of citrus juice. -

14. A process for providing a turbid citrus juice product comprising the steps of: (a) providing a citrus juice supply having a bitter flavor agent level of at least about 500 parts per million of the citrus juice supply; (b) passing the citrus juice supply through a filtration unit in order to - form a clarified liquid permeation material and a liquid holding material with pulp; (c) diafiltering the liquid retention material with pulp in (i) a diafiltration retention material of a mild citrus pulp having a bitter taste agent level of between about 20 parts per million of about 200 parts per million the soft citrus pulp, and (ii) a diafiltration permeation material that has virtually no pulp and a level of the bitter tasting agent greater than that of the soft pulp; (d) filtering the permeation material of the clarified liquid from step (b) in order to eliminate the bitterness thereof by reducing the level of the bitter taste agent to between about 20 parts per million and about 200 parts per million in order to provide - - a citrus juice clarified and free of the bitter taste agent; and (e) combining the soft citrus pulp of step (c) with the citrus juice cleared and free of bitterness from step (d) to a cloudy citrus juice product.

The process according to claim 14, wherein the turbid juice product of step (e) is a filling juice that is organoleptically identified as grapefruit juice and that is not organoleptically identified as grapefruit juice when mixed with other sources of juice.

16. The process according to claim 14, wherein the turbid juice product of step (e) is a cloudy citrus juice that is organoleptically identified as grapefruit juice.

The process according to claim 14, further comprising removing the bitterness of the diafiltration permeation material from step (c) and adding the same to the cloudy citrus juice product.

The process according to claim 14, further comprising removing the acidification of the permeation material from the clarified liquid from step (b) to an acid level of between about 0.3 percent and about 0.9 percent as citric acid. -

19. The process according to claim 17, further comprising also deacidifying the diafiltration permeation material of step (c) in order to provide a deacidified and clarified bitterness-free permeation material having an acidity of between about 0.3 per cent. one hundred and about 0.9 percent as citric acid.

The process according to claim 14, wherein the citrus juice supply of the step to provide is grapefruit juice and the bitter taste agent is naringin.

21. A turbid citrus juice product made by the process according to claim 14, wherein the juice product contains essentially all of the nutrient materials from the citrus juice supply.

22. A process for providing a clarified citrus juice comprising the steps of: (a) providing a citrus juice supply having a bitter tasting agent level of at least about 500 parts per million of the citrus juice supply; (b) passing the supply of citrus juice through a filtration unit in order to form each one - - of a clarified liquid permeation material and a pulpy liquid retention material; (c) diafiltering the pulp liquid retention material in (i) a diafiltration retention material of a mild citrus pulp having a level of the flavoring agent-ranging from about 20 parts per million to about 200 parts per million. the soft citrous pulp, and (ii) a diafiltration permeation material that has virtually no pulp and a higher bitter-tasting agent level than the soft pulp; and (d) eliminating the bitterness of both the permeation material of the clarified liquid from step (b) and the diafiltration permeation material of step (c) in order to eliminate the bitterness thereof to a level of bitter taste agent of between about 20 and about 200 parts per million in order to provide a clarified and bitter-free citrus juice that includes a juice component that originates from the pulpy liquid of step (b).

23. The process according to claim 22, wherein the clarified citrus juice product is organoleptically identified as grapefruit juice.

24. The process according to claim 22, which further includes deacidifying the juice - - citrus clarified and free from bitterness to an acid level of between about 0.3 percent and about 0.9 percent as citric acid.

25. The process according to claim 22, wherein the citrus juice supply of the step of providing is grapefruit juice, and the bitter-tasting agent is naringin.

26. A clarified citrus juice product made by the process according to claim 22 wherein the juice product contains essentially all of the nutrient materials from the citrus juice supply.

27. A mixed juice product comprising: at least one key flavor juice that provides a key juice component that is present at between 0.5 and about 50 weight percent of the mixed juice product; a clarified grapefruit filler juice that is derived from grapefruit juice, the clarified grapefruit filler juice constitutes between about 5 percent and about 99.5 percent by weight of the mixed juice product, the clarified grapefruit filler juice includes ( a) a component of grapefruit juice - clarified and free of bitterness having a concentration of -naringine of approximately 20 parts per million and approximately - 200 parts per million and (b) a completely natural liquid permeation material clarified and free of bitterness from the diafiltration of the grapefruit pulp, the liquid permeation material has a naringin concentration of between about 20 and about 200 parts per million; and the clarified grapefruit filler juice contains essentially all the nutritious materials of the grapefruit juice from which it is derived.

28. The mixed juice product according to claim 27, wherein the key juice component includes a plurality of key flavor juice, each being a flavor other than grapefruit.

29. The mixed juice product according to claim 27, wherein the grapefruit filling juice is organoleptically identified as grapefruit juice before being added to the mixed juice product, and the grapefruit filling juice is not organoleptically identified as Grapefruit juice in the mixed juice product.

30. The mixed juice product according to claim 27, wherein the all-natural liquid grapefruit permeation material comprises between about 2 volume percent and - about 20 volume percent of the turbid grapefruit filling juice.

31. The mixed juice product according to claim 27, wherein the grapefruit filling set has an acidity level of between about 0.3 weight percent and about 0.9 weight percent.

32. The mixed juice product according to claim 27, wherein the naringin concentration of the liquid permeation material is between about 50 parts per million and about 120 parts per million.