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, consisting of the steps of:
heating fruit juice concentrate having substantially a 30% moisture content;
vacuuming the heated fruit juice concentrate;
mixing the heated and vacuumed fruit juice concentrate with fruit puree;
mixing the heated and vacuumed fruit juice concentrate and the fruit puree with a gelling agent to produce a first mixture comprising the heated and vacuumed fruit juice concentrate, the fruit puree and the gelling agent;
heating the first mixture;
vacuuming excess moisture from the heated first mixture to produce a 15% to 20% moisture content;
mixing the heated and vacuumed first mixture with a second mixture, the second mixture comprising a natural flavoring agent, and a natural coloring agent; and
depositing the mixed first mixture and second mixture in a Mogul machine to produce the fruit snack product.
2 . The process of claim 1 , wherein the gelling agent is a combination of gelatin and pectin.
3 . The process of claim 2 , wherein the gelatin and the pectin are provided in a ratio of about 10 to 1.
4 . The process of claim 3 , wherein the gelatin comprises one part gelatin and two parts water prior to mixing the gelling agent with the fruit juice concentrate.
5 . The process of claim 1 , wherein the produced fruit snack product has a translucent appearance.
6 . The process of claim 1 , comprising curing the produced fruit snack product for substantially 24 hours.
7 . The process of claim 1 , wherein the fruit juice concentrate is pineapple juice concentrate.
8 . The process of claim 1 , wherein the fruit puree is apple puree.
9 . The process of claim 1 , wherein the fruit snack product does not include added sugars or corn syrups.
10 . The process of claim 1 , wherein the fruit juice and fruit puree are derived from only fruit-derived ingredients.
11 . The process of claim 1 , wherein the fruit snack product contains only natural ingredients.
12 . The process of claim 1 , wherein the first mixture is heated to about 190 degrees Fahrenheit.
13 . The process of claim 1 , wherein the fruit juice concentrate is pineapple juice concentrate and the fruit puree is apple puree.
14 . The process of claim 13 , wherein the pineapple juice concentrate is about 76.25% of the fruit snack product and the apple puree is about 7.45% of the fruit snack product.
15 . The process of claim 14 , wherein the natural flavoring agent is tri-sodium citrate and natural flavor, and wherein the tri-sodium citrate is about 0.50 of the fruit snack product and the natural flavor is about 1.50% of the fruit snack product.
16 . The process of claim 15 , wherein the gelling agent is a combination of gelatin and pectin, wherein the gelatin is about 10.5% of the fruit snack product and the pectin is about 1.0% of the fruit snack product.
17 . The process of claim 16 , wherein the fruit snack product comprises citric acid, and wherein the citric acid is about 0.40 of the fruit snack product
18 . The process of claim 17 , wherein the natural color is about 2.0% of the fruit snack product.
19 . The process of claim 18 , wherein the fruit snack product comprises vitamin C, and wherein the vitamin C is about 0.40% of the fruit snack product.
20 . The process of claim 1 , wherein the step of heating the fruit juice concentrate comprises heating the fruit juice concentrate to a temperature of substantially between 250 to 300 degrees Fahrenheit for a predetermined period of time.