Process of preparing frozen juice product

Abstract

A process for producing a frozen whole juice product, in which juice is frozen in plastic containers that have substantially planar faces after freezing.

Description

FIG. 5 FIG. 4 and filled with juice 10 in the right-hand side. The side wall 3 of bottle 1' is sufficiently rigid to resist significant distortion due to the expansion of juice 10 upon freezing. Any distortions that does occur will be limited by the rigid side wall 3 to maintain the substantially square cross section of bottle 1' taken along longitudinal axis A. As in FIG. 3, the distortion of the side wall 3 after the juice 10 has been frozen has been exaggerated for purposes of illustration, and it can be seen that bottle 1' can be stacked side-by-side with another bottle 1', as illustrated by the portion of the bottle adjacent to the right-hand side of bottle 1' shown in section. Sufficient rigidity for side wall 3 can be accomplished by increasing the wall thickness of the side wall 3 to a wall thickness in the range of from about 0.015 to about 3/16 inches for a one-liter bottle.

It is seen that the present invention provides for a frozen whole orange juice product that is commercially feasible to manufacture and sell through conventional retail channels of trade and thus the advantages of fresh orange juice, both in terms of taste and nutrition, can be provided to the consumers. In order to insure the quality of the frozen juice product according to the present invention, it is preferred that the fresh whole orange juice is subjected to the pre-cooling step as promptly as possible, and generally this will be performed within about one minute after the orange juice is extracted from the fresh oranges.

While the present invention has been described in terms of its preferred embodiment, it is to be understood that the present invention embraces any fruit juice product, such as grapefruit juice, apple juice and the like.

Claims

1. A process for producing from fresh whole citrus fruit juice a frozen whole fruit juice product which upon defrosting has the taste and nutritional content of freshly squeezed whole citrus juice, comprising the steps of:

(a) promptly after extraction, pre-cooling freshly extracted whole citrus fruit juice to a temperature within about 5° F. above the temperature at which the juice freezes;

(b) filling with the pre-cooled fresh whole fruit juice a self-supporting bottle-like container of rectangular cross-section having integrally formed generally planar vertical sidewalls of rectangular shape, a bottom wall and a top wall having a filling and serving opening therein adapted to be sealed with closure means, said sidewalls each being formed to have a concave inwardly bulging area which in response to freezing expansion of the contained juice becomes substantially planar;

(c) sealing the opening in the top wall of the container with a suitable closure means; and

(d) promptly after sealing, freezing the contained pre-cooled whole fruit juice, whereby the inwardly bulging area of each sidewall is displaced outwardly in response to freezing and cause the sidewalls to become substantially planar, thereby to form a completely protected solid block of frozen whole fruit juice.

2. A process as defined in claim 1, wherein the citrus fruit juice is freshly extracted orange juice or grapefruit juice.

3. A process as defined in claim 1, wherein the opening in the top wall of said container is sealed with reuseable closure means adapted to be removed to dispense one or more servings of the juice and to reseal the container between servings to facilitate shaking of the remaining juice.

4. A process as defined in claim 3, wherein said opening is circular and surrounded with a threaded neck and said closure means is a threaded cap threadably engaging the threaded neck.

5. A process as defined in claim 1, wherein the sidewalls of said container each has a concave, inwardly bulging area when the container is empty constructed and arranged to assume a position substantially co-planar with the sidewall when forced outwardly by freezing expansion of the contained juice.

6. A method for packaging freshly extracted whole orange juice which enables the juice to be stored for long periods of time without losing the taste and nutritional content of fresh whole orange juice, comprising the steps of:

(a) promptly after extraction, pre-cooling freshly extracted whole orange juice to a temperature about 5° F. above the temperature at which whole orange juice freezes;

(b) filling to a predetermined level with the pre-cooled whole orange juice, a self-supporting bottle-like plastic container of square cross-section having integrally formed generally planar vertical sidewalls of rectangular shape, a bottom wall and a top wall having a filling and serving opening therein adapted to be sealed with resealable closure means, each sidewall being shaped to have a concave area bulging inwardly from the otherwise generally planar sidewall when the container is empty and dimensioned and constructed to be forced outwardly by freezing expansion of the contained juice so as to be substantially co-planar with the sidewall;

(c) sealing the opening in said container with resealable closure means; and

(d) promptly freezing the contained pre-cooled juice whereby the inwardly bulging area of each sidewall is displaced outwardly in response to freezing and cause the sidewalls to become substantially planar thereby to form a completely protected solid block of frozen whole orange juice.

7. A method of packaging fresh, whole orange juice as defined in claim 6, wherein said container is made from food grade, high density polyethylene, and wherein said opening is circular and surrounded with a threaded neck and said resealable closure means is a screw cap threadably engaging the threaded neck.

8. A process for producing from fresh whole fruit juice a frozen whole fruit juice product, comprising the steps of:

promptly after extraction, pre-cooling fresh whole fruit juice to a temperature within about 5° F. above the temperature at which the juice freezes;

filling with the pre-cooled fresh whole fruit juice a self-supporting bottle-like container of substantially rectangular cross-section having a top wall with an opening therein and having sidewalls, a portion of which sidewalls are inwardly bulging;

sealing the opening in the top wall of the container with a closure; and

promptly after sealing, freezing the sealed whole fruit juice to produce the frozen whole fruit juice product, wherein the sidewalls bulge outwardly but maintain a substantially rectangular cross-section for storage of multiple filled and frozen containers proximate each other without undue waste of space.

9. The method, as claimed in claim 8, wherein the step of sealing the opening is performed with a resealable closure adapted to be removed to dispense the juice and to be resealed to seal any remaining juice in the container. 10. The method, as claimed in claim 9, wherein the step of filling fills a container having an opening which is circular and surrounded by a threaded neck, and wherein the step of sealing comprises the step of engaging a threaded cap with the threaded neck.

11. The method, as claimed in claim 10, wherein the step of filling fills a container made from polyethylene.