How to make a real apple juice

Riding in Ukraine, I was invited to visit the plant juices Galicia - one of the few in the Ukraine, which produces a concentrate juices. I visited him and, taking with him his son Tomku - something he certainly interesting to see all these mechanisms.

BRIEF HISTORICAL SUMMARY: Enterprise "Yablunevyi gift" was founded in 2003 in the city of town, near Lviv. The owner of the plant is still one - he started with the cargo to Ukraine and Europe, gathered a small capital invested in its production - and not lost.

Today such plants for four - three in Ukraine and one in Poland - concentrate juices are very popular in Europe. On the Ukrainian Galicia Juice entered the market only in 2011 - I first saw them myself here, in western Ukraine, in the middle of a little more.

Of course, buyers stops relatively high price (2-3 times more expensive "restored" juices and nectars) and the force of habit. I also initially Galicia juices seemed to some "not so", it is difficult to articulate what exactly is wrong, but it is unusual. No flavorings, no colorings, even the sugar and water do not add - pure juice mixed in different proportions. And now I only drink them - instead of water.

The equipment at the plant the most modern, so people working here a little bit, a few hundred. But the plant has a huge number of farmers and horticultural farms in western Ukraine, which dumped here their harvest. Only in 2011, the year T.B.Fruit plants (name of the company after the reorganization, and in the international market), processed 200 thousand. Tons of apples. Where does this Prorva raw materials? Now I tell. Thus, the tour of the plant, just like in the theater begins with a hanger. Sterility is maintained the maximum, so everyone came without sanknizhki issued here such a suit.

Clean, quiet, and relatively deserted.

The thing is that the apples on the plant is brought to the season - from mid-summer to late autumn - at this time there is a queue of cars. Now the beginning of July and I could not look at the unloading, but the view is still received. Here here moor trucks with apples, and not necessarily dump:

You see the hose on the wall? water power shower apples washed out of the body in the receiver:

Next escalator lifts them into the sink (ibid caught defective fruit) and the crusher:

It is installed in the room. Small, yes udalenkaya - recycles 1,000 tons of apples per day.

Then mash (a term familiar to those who make homemade wine) enters the masher.

This is wildly intelligent and powerful press, our guide described the phrase "among juicers he occupies the same place as the Ferrari among cars." The press cake is still only 5% of moisture.

Press reports, which juice options to get to the exit, and he himself determines the nature of the incoming raw materials and accordingly changes the mode of operation. Of course, behind all this the following operators (only one):

Tomka as it symbolizes that it can cope with even a child.

The extruded juice then passes deaeration (air is removed therefrom as to prevent oxidation) is filtered from the pulp, pectins and purified from either goes to filling or concentration.

About "casting workshop" I will tell a little further, now about the concentration. You probably know that most juices in supermarkets - pineapple, grape, cherry - but in general all the acidic juices made ... is true, from apple juice. Just had a taste and acidity suitable, we can only tint, flavored - that's you and strawberry preserves.

At best, the manufacturers add fruit puree, at worst - food coloring. And virtually all add "flavor identical to natural" - can themselves read the part on the pack. So you pay for "pineapple juice" and drink tinted and flavored apple.

Where juices manufacturers take this very apple juice? .. buy from factories like "Yablunevyi gift", which have their own and gardens, and facilities for processing crops. Approximately 60% of the market concentrated juices in Ukraine owned T.B.Fruit. Buyers many, among the famous - Sandora and Pepsi Co.

What is the concentrated juice than it is bad and what is good? Nothing wrong with it is not - it's just the juice from which evaporated excess water. Here in these tanks is evaporated:

In this shop is worth a strong smell of kvass.

So, concentrated apple juice, strawberry, cherry and currant puree is poured into barrels and stored in the warehouse:

All the year round it is shipped to customers:

It is beneficial to all - the customer buys concentrate when he needs (and not only in the season) and as long as necessary; Carrier saves costs (concentrate takes several times less space). The plant-buyer to the concentrate was added water - and the taste and most parameters the result is not different from the source of apple juice. Any scam with flavoring and coloring starts later (I described above), concentrate here at anything. The buyer will also concentrate orders parameters: acidity, sweetness, purity and so on. For all of these monitors factory chemical laboratory.

Analysts happy new technology - previously had to manually measure the acidity, and now poured juice, pressed the button and waited and done.

It turns out, high precision and stability of juice options is very important. Buyer fact can be unpleasantly surprised if he buys a pack of your favorite juice, and he would suddenly too sour or too sweet, watery, or - in short a couple of these "pinholes" and the buyer will go to another brand. Yes, when we make juice at home, we did not bother with such niceties, but guess what the taste of the juice is almost impossible.

As promised, we return to the bottling plant. In addition to the delivery of concentrate to other plants, the Galicia started to manufacture their juices - svezheotzhatyh (they do not pass the stage of concentration), without preservatives (even sugar is not added), without dyes - in short, the elite class juices. I do not aspire to the elite, but it is important to give to children to me - they are eternal problems with the pancreas, it is necessary to follow.

Here on this small "machine" goes through the pipes pasteurized (92 degrees Celsius) and juice bottles on the conveyor. And then, for a given program juices mixed, bottled and closed - all on a single assembly line:

The basis also serves apple juice, but it is mixed, e.g., currant, in a proportion of 85% apple and 15% chornosmorodinovogo - for each juice their ratio. Once again - the water and sugar added! Only fresh juices (in the case of strawberries - fresh mashed potatoes).

Preservatives are not used, in principle (only in tomato juice, add salt, but it's for a taste). Canning is ensured by pasteurization - in short, at home.

Well, after all this is packed in cardboard boxes, pallets and sent to the shops.

In fact right at the store (located at the entrance) and our tour ended. Assortment: apple, apple and blueberry, apple-cherry, apple and chornosmorodinovy, apple-strawberry, apple-carrot, apple, grape, tomato. Planned orange and other exotics. All terribly useful and recommended for all ages. In any case, many other manufacturers on the bottle / package I did not see the proud inscription "Juice direct extraction", they usually even the word "juice" are afraid of writing, in order to avoid lawsuits.