example, raspberry and other cane berries
will stay bright for extended periods in the cream-fondant centers. The microbiological
count is closely monitored on freeze-dried fruits and caution should be taken to purchase
raw materials from reliable suppliers known to follow good sanitation practices. The yeast
content of freeze-dried fruits will typically be less than 750 per gram. At these levels,
no customers have been known to register any complaints due to spoilage by fermentation
due to the yeast of the freeze-dried fruit material.
It is important to emphasize that most of these fruits are processed
from clean, whole, frozen fruit which have not been subjected to heating or pasteurization
treatments. Hence, after the moisture is removed, the product delivers the natural color
and flavor of the fruit.
AVAILABILITY OF FREEZE-DREED FRUITS
Virtually any type of fruit can be made available in the freeze-dried
form. It's merely a matter of being able to find the appropriate source. Examples of
fruits currently available in freeze-dried form include strawberries, peaches,
raspberries, blueberries, oranges, lemons, and pineapple. Many others can be made
available such as boysenberries, marion berries, kiwi, lime, guava, papaya, passion fruit,
bananas, and grapefruit. Exotic and lesser known tropical fruits could even be made
available provided an appropriate raw material source could be located. Freezedried fruits
can be put in a wide variety of physical forms including slices, dices, and powders.
Use the strawberry as a typical example as to what can be done. These
can be provided in the
small whole form about 1 inch in diameter,
slices can be cut to 1/4 of an inch or 3/8 of an inch, cubes can be diced in 3/16, 1/4,
3/8 of an inch sizes, or the berries can be granulated into powders.The principal
application form for confectionery products is the powder form. However, there are some
applications to utilization of a small piece in order to get a different textural identity
into a cream-filled center, and there are some companies enrobing small whole strawberry
pieces.
If one chocolate-enrobes the small whole freeze-dried strawberry, then
one is not going to get the flavor release of the strawberry until the piece is
reconstituted with saliva in the mouth. To improve the flavor response, a possibility
would be to partially-rehydrate the piece with some type of sweet syrup prior to enrobing.
This would be a means of adding sufficient moisture to stimulate the taste buds, yet
maintain a low water activity. This would be another opportunity to get the yogurt-fruit
combination by enrobing with a compound yogurt coating.
Citrus products offer several flavor opportunities. Juice from the
lemon or the orange of the edible tissue can be freeze-dried to produce one flavor. The
entire fruit including the peel can be freeze-dried and granulated into a powder to
produce another unique citrus flavor. The peels themselves can be freeze-dried and placed
in a powder form to give yet another flavor concept; there even exists a fourth
opportunity. Sources are available of the pigmented portion of the skin where most of the
oil sacs are located. This segment of the orange and lemon peel is known as the flavedo
and results in a very distinct flavor. These peel shavings can be left in a particular
form or granulated to a powder.