Process of preparing simulated fruit

Claim 1

In a process for preparing simulated fruit berries consisting essentially of (A) co-extruding (a) an aqueous sol selected from the group consisting of aqueous alginate sol and aqueous low-methoxy pectin sol, and (b) a fruit-flavored aqueous system selected from the group consisting of fruit-flavored solutions, fruit juice, fruit pulp and fruit puree to form fruit-flavored drops coated with the sol; and (B) dropping the coated drops from 2 to 30 cms into an aqueous setting bath containing as setting agent an edible, water-soluble calcium salt to set the sol to a gel selected from the group consisting of calcium alginate and low-methoxy pectate gel and thereby form simulated fruit consisting essentially of drops of a fruit-flavored aqueous system coated with said gel; the improvement, whereby distortion of the drops on entering the setting bath and disruptive splashing of the bath are minimised, consisting essentially in bubbling a gas non-reactive to the setting bath, the sol and the fruit-flavored system through the setting bath to form a foam at the surface of the setting bath, the height of the foam being in the range 2 to 25 millimeters.