Fruits And Vegetables Processing Hand Book

Fruits & Vegetables Processing Hand Book (Engineers India Research Institute, ISBN 9788186732328) pairs a complete fruit and vegetable preservation manual with fifteen costed project profiles, covering canning, juices, jams, tomato products and pickles in one volume.

Preservation sections cover physical, chemical and fermentation methods and the principles behind each. Canning sections cover commercial scale practice with investment, factory site and building, water supply, labour, machinery and the canning process, followed by tin and glass containers with can manufacture, testing and sizes, and syrup and brine preparation with syrup calculation. Canning procedures are then given fruit by fruit for apple, apricot, banana, cherry, fig, grape, guava, jackfruit, litchi, mango, orange, papaya, peach, pear, pineapple, plum, ber, pomegranate, melons, amla, carambola, custard apple and karonda, and vegetable by vegetable for asparagus, beans, beetroot, cabbage, carrot, cauliflower, mushroom, okra, peas, potato, tomato, turnip, spinach, parwal, karela and curried vegetables, with a canning time table for non-acid vegetables and a spoilage chapter covering swell, springer, flipper, flat sour, leaker and breather defects.

Beverage sections cover juice equipment, pressing, clarification and fining, pasteurisation and preservation by chemicals, sugar, freezing, drying, carbonation and filtration, with recipes for orange, lemon, lime, pineapple, mango, jackfruit, jaman, passion fruit, peach, phalsa and plum squashes, barley waters, cordials, syrups, carbonated beverages and juice concentrates.

Preserve sections cover jam and jelly making with pectin estimation, acidity and pH control, invert sugar, end point and storage, plus recipes for typical jams and jellies. Tomato sections cover juice, puree, paste, cocktail, ketchup, sauce, soup and chilli sauce with microbiology and product specifications. Pickle, sauce and chutney sections cover the pickling process, preservative action, hardening agents, dry salting, spiced vinegar and packing, with chutneys, thin and thick sauces and a wide pickle range. Closing sections cover plant and machinery details and effluent disposal.

Frequently Asked Questions

What does the Fruits & Vegetables Processing Hand Book cover?

Fruits & Vegetables Processing Hand Book (EIRI, ISBN 9788186732328) covers fruit and vegetable preservation from principles through to costed plant projects. Its main divisions are: preservation principles by physical, chemical and fermentation methods; commercial canning and bottling with factory, utility and machinery requirements; tin and glass containers with can manufacture and testing; syrups and brines with syrup calculation; canning procedures for more than twenty-five fruits and seventeen vegetables; spoilage in canned foods; fruit juices, squashes, cordials, syrups and concentrates; jams, jellies and jam-like products; tomato juice, puree, paste, ketchup, sauce and soup; pickles, sauces and chutneys; fifteen project profiles with full plant economics; plant and machinery details; effluent disposal; and directories of equipment, packaging and raw material suppliers.

Who is this fruit and vegetable processing handbook written for?

This handbook is written for readers who need processing method and project cost together. Its intended audience includes fruit and vegetable processing unit owners and managers, canning and bottling plant operators, juice, squash and beverage manufacturers, jam, jelly, ketchup and pickle producers, mango pulp and tomato paste processors, food technologists and production supervisors, quality control and laboratory staff, agricultural graduates and horticulture officers advising growers on value addition, farmer producer organisations and self-help groups adding a processing line, students of food technology, technical libraries, and entrepreneurs or consultants preparing a project report for a food processing unit.

What project profiles with plant economics does the book include?

Fifteen chapters carry full plant economics, each covering land and building, plant and machinery, fixed capital, raw materials, monthly working capital, total capital investment, annual turnover, profit sales ratio, rate of return and break even point. The units costed are: canned fruits and vegetables; canning of pineapple slices, litchi, cherries and strawberries in syrup; cashew fruit juice from cashew apple; dehydration of fruits and vegetables by freeze drying; frozen foods; fruit juice making and packaging in plastic containers and pouches; fruit and vegetable juices with other products; guava jam and jelly; jam, jellies, pickles and squashes; lemon and lime squash with cordials; frozen meat; mango processing and canning for pulp; pickles; processed food covering juices, squashes, sauces and ketchup; and tomato products covering sauce, ketchup, puree and powder. This range lets an entrant compare a seasonal pulp or canning line against a year-round squash, ketchup or pickle unit before committing capital.

Who should consider starting a fruit and vegetable processing business, and why?

Fruit and vegetable processing suits entrants located in or near a growing belt who can buy fruit at harvest prices, since raw material cost and proximity decide profitability more than plant size. The commercial case is strong on both sides of the ledger. On supply, a large share of India's fruit and vegetable crop is lost between field and consumer, so processing converts a perishable surplus available at low cost into a product with months of shelf life. On demand, packaged juices, squashes, jams, ketchup, pulp and pickles sell through retail, institutional catering, hotels and export channels with steady repeat volume. Entry is possible at several levels, from a small jam, squash or pickle unit run on seasonal fruit through a mango pulp or canning line to freeze drying and frozen product plants. The costed profiles let an entrant match capital to ambition and plan a product mix that keeps the plant working through the year, with mango and litchi in season, tomato products in the tomato flush, and squashes, pickles and ketchup from stored pulp or brined stock in the off season.

Does the book include actual formulations and recipes?

Yes, and the recipe content is one of the book's strongest features. Canning recipes are given fruit by fruit and vegetable by vegetable with syrup or brine strength, blanching and processing detail. Beverage recipes cover orange, lemon, lime, pineapple, mango, jackfruit, jaman, passion fruit, peach, phalsa, plum and watermelon squashes, citrus barley waters, lime juice cordial, apple, cashew apple, citrus, grape, pineapple and pomegranate juices, syrups, carbonated beverages and tamarind juice concentrate. Preserve recipes cover typical jams, jellies and jam-like products. Tomato recipes cover juice, puree, paste, cocktail, ketchup, sauce, soup and chilli sauce. Pickle and chutney recipes cover apple, cabbage, beetroot, cucumber, jackfruit, onion, walnut, bamboo, cauliflower, lime, mango and turnip pickles in both brine and oil, sweet spiced vinegar, and apple, apricot, bamboo, mango, peach, plum and tomato chutneys, alongside soya, Worcestershire, mushroom, apple and tomato sauces with soups and soup mixes.

What canning and container content does the book cover?

Canning is covered as a plant discipline, not just a procedure. Commercial scale content covers investment, selection of factory site, factory building layout, water supply and drainage, labour requirement, machinery and equipment, and the canning process step by step. Container content covers tin and glass containers, the manufacture of cans, testing of cans and standard can sizes, which is what a processor needs when negotiating with a container supplier. Medium content covers sugar syrups with preparation and syrup calculation, and brines for vegetable packing. Quality content covers spoilage in canned foods including swell, hydrogen swell, springer, flipper, flat sour, leaker, breather and bursting of cans, with the cause behind each defect, together with a canning time table for non-acid vegetables that gives the processing schedule those products require.

What juice, squash and beverage content does the book include?

Beverages are covered from extraction to shelf stability. Extraction content covers equipment for fruit juices, double operation and pressing. Clarification content covers finings with purely physical or mechanical action, chemical finings, and clarification by freezing and by heating. Preservation content covers pasteurisation, chemical preservation including sulphur dioxide with permitted limits, preservation by added sugar, freezing, drying, carbonation and filtration. Product content covers squashes and cordials across the citrus and tropical fruit range, citrus fruit barley waters, sherbat, single strength juices from apple, cashew apple, citrus, grape, pineapple and pomegranate, syrups, carbonated beverages and fruit juice concentrates including tamarind. The project profiles extend this with juice making and packaging in plastic containers and pouches, and with lemon and lime squash and cordial manufacture costed as a plant.

What plant, machinery and supplier information does the book provide?

A dedicated section details the equipment a processing line needs, which shortens the work of specifying a plant. Processing equipment covered includes tubular pasteuriser, fruit mill, rosing machine, hydraulic juice press, screw type juice extractor, pulper, potato peeler and potato slicer. Bottling equipment covered includes rotary bottle washing machine, semi automatic and vacuum filling machines, lug cap, polypropylene cap and crown corking sealers, filled bottle steriliser, gooseneck elevator, conveyors, three way inspection and manipulation conveyor, plate and frame filter press and a complete bottling line. Canning equipment covered includes double seamer, flanger, lid embossing machine, canning retort and rotary flat can body reformer. Supporting content covers effluent and disposal, a list of present manufacturers of processed fruit and vegetable products, and directories of suppliers for plant and machinery, food packaging machinery, jam manufacturing plant, packaging materials and raw materials.