Process for conditioning grape and analogous berry or fruit materials prior to extraction of juice therefrom

Claim 1

PROCESS FOR CONDITIONING GRAPE MATERIAL PREPARATORY TO THE EXTRACTION OF JUICE THEREFROM, COMPRISING ADDING TO A MASS OF GRAPE MATERIAL A PECTIN HYDROLYZING AGENT, AND FINELY DIVIDED WOOD PULP FIBER, THE LATTER BEING CHARACTERIZED BY A SURFACE ROUGH THROUGH THE PRESENCE OF HAIR-LIKE PROCESSES ENABLING IT TO HOLD CONTACTING SOLIDS PARTICLES FREED IN THE MASS AS THE RESULT OF DISINTEGRATION OF THE FRUIT TISSUE, DISPERSING THE ADDITIVES THROUGHOUT THE MASS BY MIXING, WHEREBY THE WOOD PULP FIBER FORMS A THREE DIMENSIONAL WEB-LIKE NETWORK THROUGHOUT THE MASS POSITIONED TO INTERCEPT, AND INHIBIT THE INDEPENDENT MIGRATION OF, SAID PARTICLES, AND MAINTAINING THE MIXTURE AT A TEMPERATURE WITHIN THE REACTION RANGE OF THE HYDROLIZING AGENT FOR A SUFFICIENT TIME TO OBTAIN A SUBSTANTIAL HYDROLIZING EFFECT, THEN PROGRESSIVELY REDUCING THE VOLUME OF THE MASS WHEREBY THE JUICE IS EXTRACTED INDEPENDENTLY OF THE SOLIDS PARTICLES, THE LATTER BEING RETAINED IN THEIR RELATIVELY DISPERSED POSITIONS IN SAID MASS.