Improvement of the method for producing confitures from fruit raw materials

The object of research is the method of production of comfiture from fruit and vegetable raw materials. The production of comfiture using traditional technologies is characterized by the loss of physiologically functional ingredients of raw materials. Such losses can reach up to 60 % of the initial amount, depending on the temperature regime and the duration of heat treatment. A negative factor in the storage of ready-made comfitures is sugar crystallization. Equipment for the implementation of traditional processes of processing fruits and vegetables is characterized by high productivity, low efficiency and operational difficulties. Boiling in the traditional way is carried out at high-temperature conditions, which leads to a decrease in the content of functionally physiological ingredients and the nutritional value of the resulting comfitures. In the production of comfiture on the basis of fruit and vegetable raw materials, the following recipe ratio of components was used: apple – 60 %; Jerusalem artichoke – 25 %; cornelian cherry – 15 %. The improved method is characterized by gentle heat exchange operations, in particular: drying is carried out in an infrared dryer at a temperature of 40–50 °C to a dry matter content of 30–40 %. And also by further boiling of the mass in a vacuum evaporator based on a flexible film resistive radiating electric heater (FFRREH) at 50–60 °C. The use of inverted syrup in the recipe during boiling prevents sugar crystallization during storage of the finished product. Comparative analysis of the heating kinetics of comfiture from fruit and vegetable raw materials confirms the reduction in the duration of reaching the stationary mode (55 °C) when using a vacuum evaporator based on FFRREH by 1.6 times, compared with an analog apparatus. Such a hardware-constructive solution will ensure a decrease in the consumption of energy resources with a simultaneous increase in the quality characteristics of products.