ALL NATURAL FRUIT SNACK AND METHOD OF MANUFACTURING AN ALL NATURAL FRUIT SNACK
A fruit snack manufactured, in summary, by removing moisture from commercially available juice concentrates (e.g., containing about 30% moisture) by heating for a short time the juice concentrate and vacuuming away excess moisture to produce a fruit juice concentrate with about a 15 to 20% moisture content, mixing the reduced moisture content fruit juice concentrate with fruit purees and gelling agents, preferably both pectin and gelatin, to produce a cooked mass, and depositing the cooked mass in a Mogul machine to produce the molded fruit snack.
1 . A process of manufacturing a fruit snack product, comprising the steps of:
providing fruit juice concentrate having a moisture content of substantially 15% to 20%;
mixing the fruit juice concentrate with fruit purees;
mixing the fruit juice concentrate with a gelling agent; and
depositing the fruit juice concentrate with the fruit purees and the gelling agent in a Mogul machine to produce the fruit snack product.
2 . The process of claim 1 , wherein the step of providing fruit juice concentrate having a moisture content of substantially 15% to 20% includes the steps of providing fruit juice concentrate having substantially a 30% moisture content; heating the provided fruit juice concentrate to a temperature of substantially between 250 to 300 degrees Fahrenheit for a predetermined period of time; and vacuuming excess moisture from the heated fruit juice concentrate to produce fruit juice concentrate having substantially a 15% to 20% moisture content.
3 . The process of claim 1 , wherein the gelling agent is a combination of gelatin and pectin.
4 . The process of claim 3 , wherein both the gelatin and pectin are used as texturing agents.
5 . The process of claim 3 , wherein the gelatin comprises 1 part gelatin and two parts water.
6 . The process of claim 1 , wherein the produced fruit snack product has a translucent appearance.
7 . The process of claim 1 , comprising adding natural colors and flavors to the deposited fruit juice concentrate.
8 . The process of claim 1 , comprising curing the produced fruit snack product for substantially 24 hours.
9 . The process of claim 1 , wherein the fruit juice is pineapple juice concentrated to substantially 80 Brix.
10 . The process of claim 1 , wherein the fruit purees include apple puree.
11 . The process of claim 1 , wherein the fruit snack product does not include added sugars or corn syrups.
12 . A fruit snack product produced by a starch molding process, comprising:
fruit juices, fruit purees and other sweetening agents derived from fruits, flavoring agents, stabilizers, acidulants, fruit flavorings, and coloring agents.
13 . The fruit snack of claim 12 , wherein the sweetening agents are derived only from fruit-derived ingredients.
14 . The fruit snack of claim 12 , comprising pectins and gelatin that are used as texturizing agents.
15 . The fruit snack of claim 12 , having only natural colors and flavors.