Process of making dehydrated fruit juice

Claim 1

A process for producing a dehydrated orange juice powder which is storage-stable, non-caking when packaged under vacuum in flexible packages and stored at temperatures of 100° F. or higher, and instantly rehydratable after storage at said temperatures, which comprises the steps of extracting orange juice from oranges, said orange juice comprising liquid and pulp components, centrifuging said orange juice at about 2000 r.p.m. for a time sufficient for separation of said orange juice into a sediment portion and a supernatant liquid portion to occur, said sediment portion containing substantially all of said pulp components, removing a first fraction of said supernatant liquid portion while leaving the remaining fraction of said supernatant liquid portion with said sediment portion, remixing said sediment portion with said remaining fraction of said supernatant liquid portion, freeze-vacuum-dehydrating the resulting mixture of said sediment portion with said remaining fraction of said supernatant liquid portion to produce dehydrated orange juice solids having a moisture content of not more than about 2.0 percent by weight, and comminuting said dehydrated orange juice solids to form a dehydrated orange juice powder of particle size capable of passing through a sieve having about 0.0335 inch openings, said first fraction being not less than about eighty percent by weight of said supernatant liquid portion and said remaining fraction being up to twenty percent by weight of said supernatant liquid portion.