Extracting more juice

They want to maximise juice yield and capacity during pressing, and improve the ability to extract pectin from the pomace, while smoothing downstream processes.

Good enzyme technology can facilitate the extraction of juice from the fruit matrix during the pressing process.

This means that juice manufacturers can:

• obtain more juice per kilogram of apples

• increase press and production capacity

• reduce juice post-treatment

• lower processing costs

• generate a greater overall value (net profit).

Better mashing

The market for mash applications is set to grow because of the increase in the price of raw material.

Enzyme technology is used extensively during the first mashing at ambient temperature.

Good enzyme technology works well with all existing technologies, whether belt press, hydraulic press or decanter.

The result is higher juice yields of up to 2%, and 15% higher press capacity compared with current benchmarks.

While these figures may not seem spectacular, consider that juice yields are being raised from 94% to 96%, all of which is convertible into profit for juice manufacturers.

Mash applications should have well-balanced enzyme activities that act on specific soluble pectins in the fruit mash, leaving the insoluble pectin untouched.

This prevents the release of additional substances that could cause overreactions leading to reduced yield.

An effective mash enzyme increases juice yield and press capacity, resulting in a drier pomace.

Dry pomace is a clear indication of the effectiveness of the enzyme, indicating that more of the juice has been squeezed out.

Enzyme solutions also can aid juice manufacturers by maximising press capacity and shortening processing times.

This is especially important during the months that apples are harvested.

Manufacturers now only have a reduced time in which to process the same quantity of fresh fruit.

This means they have a short time to do a lot of work.

All-season solution

Apples with low pH and high polyphenol content are more difficult to process than low-acid apples.

However, Novozymes’ enzyme technology Pectinex YieldMash works efficiently with both high-acid apples and low-acid apples.

The natural acidity of apples changes from pH 2.93 at the beginning of the harvest in August to pH 3.2 or 3.3 at the peak of the season in September, and pH 3.5 at the end of the season in October.

Therefore, it is crucial to have an enzyme solution that works with high-acid apples at the start of the season when apples are more acidic.

Clearing haze

Depending upon where you are in the world, haze in apple juice is perceived differently.

In most parts of the world, apple juice with haze is considered to be of low quality.

However, in some countries like Germany, cloudy apple juice is thought to be high-quality juice.

Any juice manufacturer who wants to produce a clear apple juice concentrate needs to undertake an enzyme treatment to clear the haze away after the mashing process.

Novozymes’ Pectinex XXL and Pectinex Clear can work across a broad pH and temperature range and offer clarification in apple juice, leaving it free of post-haze during transportation and storage.

This article appears courtesy of Asia Food Journal.