Process for producing a semi-moist fruit product and the products therefrom

Claim 1

A process for producing a sweetened, semi-moist fruit product having a moisture content in the range of 10% to 40% comprising: (a) coating fresh or frozen fruit with an effective amount of sugar to initiate nondestructive osmotic fluid-sugar exchange; (b) continuing the nondestructive osmotic fluid-sugar exchange within the fruit in which fruit juices migrate outward from the fruit and sugar migrates into the fruit by the osmotic exchange until the sugar concentration reaches an equilibrum across the fruit, without disturbing the natural skin of the fruit to produce a mixture of sugared fruit and sugared fruit syrup, (c) separating the syrup from the fruit; (d) rinsing the fruit to remove surface sugar and syrup from outside the fruit; and (e) drying the sweetened fruit in a vacuum atmosphere of up to 400 microns Hg and suddenly releasing the vacuum atmosphere within 1 to 2 minutes to collapse the fruit to a relatively wrinkled solid, chewy and palatable condition.