Processed fruit is sold in half a dozen formats that buyers routinely confuse, and the confusion is expensive because the formats are not substitutable in a formulation. This guide sets out what each one is, what it costs to move, and which specification lines actually determine whether a delivery works.
The format map
Single-strength puree is the whole edible fruit, de-stoned and de-seeded where necessary, milled and sieved. Nothing is removed except the inedible fraction and nothing is added. It carries the fibre, the pulp and the full flavour profile, and it is the format closest to the fruit itself.
Concentrated puree is single-strength puree with water removed by evaporation. It retains the pulp but the heat load is higher and volatile aroma is lost unless it is captured and added back.
Cloudy juice is the pressed liquid fraction with the suspended pulp retained. Clear juice is the same liquid after enzyme treatment, clarification and filtration, which removes pulp, pectin and haze precursors.
Juice concentrate is either of those with water removed, traded on a Brix figure and reconstituted by the buyer. This is the highest value density format and the cheapest to transport per unit of fruit solids.
Fruit preparation is a formulated product – fruit plus sugar, pectin, acid, sometimes colour and flavour – made to a customer recipe for direct dosing into yoghurt or ice cream. It is a manufactured food, not a fruit commodity.
The single most common buying error in this category is specifying a puree when the formulation needs a clear juice, or the reverse. Pulp is either a functional ingredient in your product or it is a haze defect. Decide which before you enquire.
What concentration preserves and what it destroys
Concentration is an evaporation process, and evaporation is a thermal process. Understanding what survives it prevents a good deal of disappointment.
Sugars, acids and minerals concentrate proportionally and are essentially unaffected. Colour from anthocyanins survives reasonably well at low pH and degrades faster at higher pH and higher temperature. Volatile aroma compounds are lost almost entirely unless the plant runs an aroma recovery unit and adds the recovered fraction back at a stated ratio. Heat-labile vitamins, notably vitamin C, are substantially reduced.
The commercial implication is that a concentrate bought for sweetness and acidity performs exactly as expected, and a concentrate bought for aroma disappoints unless aroma add-back is specified. It is a specification line, it costs money, and it is usually omitted from a first quotation.
Aseptic versus frozen supply
Both purees and concentrates can be supplied frozen or aseptically packed, and the choice changes the logistics more than the product.
| Aseptic | Frozen | |
|---|---|---|
| Pack | Bag-in-box in drum or bin | Lined carton, drum or block |
| Carriage | Ambient or chilled | Reefer at minus 18 C or colder |
| Shelf life | Months at ambient, unopened | Long, but cold chain dependent |
| Heat load | Higher; the product is thermally sterilised | Lower; minimal thermal treatment |
| Risk on failure | Pack integrity failure spoils the unit | Cold chain break degrades quality progressively |
| Opened unit | Must be used quickly | Can be refrozen with quality loss |
Aseptic processing is the default for long-distance industrial supply because it removes the reefer obligation entirely. Frozen is preferred where the heat load matters – delicate aroma, heat-sensitive colour, baby food formulations where minimal processing is a positioning claim.
The specification lines that matter
A workable puree or concentrate specification has fewer lines than most buyers expect, but each one has to carry a method.
Soluble solids. Degrees Brix by refractometer to ISO 2173, temperature corrected, with the acid correction position stated explicitly. A Brix figure without a method is not comparable between suppliers.
Titratable acidity and pH. Acidity expressed as the relevant acid on a named method. The Brix-to-acid ratio is what a formulator actually uses and it cannot be derived from one figure.
Consistency. For purees, a Bostwick or equivalent flow measurement at a stated temperature and time. This is the line that determines whether the product behaves the same way in your dosing equipment, and it is the one most often missing.
Pulp content and particle size. For cloudy products, a centrifuged pulp percentage and a sieve specification. For clear products, a turbidity maximum.
Colour. Instrumental where possible, against retained standards where not. On red fruit, an anthocyanin assay is more informative than a visual match.
Microbiology. For aseptic product, sterility on an incubation protocol rather than a plate count, because the question is whether the pack is commercially sterile, not how many organisms are present.
Contaminants. Patulin on apple and pear products, heavy metals on all of them, both against Commission Regulation (EU) 2023/915. Concentration concentrates contaminants along with the sugars, which is precisely why the regulation carries separate lines for concentrated products.
Patulin is the one to watch on pome fruit. It is produced by rot in the raw fruit, it is not destroyed by pasteurisation, and it concentrates. A concentrate supplier’s raw material sorting is the control, and it is worth auditing.
Buying logic in practice
Start from the finished product and work backwards.
- Does the consumer see or feel the fruit? If yes, you need pulp, and probably puree. If no, juice or concentrate will do.
- Is the fruit carrying aroma, or colour, or acidity, or sweetness? Aroma pushes you towards single-strength and frozen; the others allow concentrate.
- What is your dosing equipment? Viscosity and particle size constrain the format more than most formulators expect.
- How far is the supply and how reliable is your cold chain? Distance and uncertainty push towards aseptic concentrate.
- What volume do you actually use per month? Aseptic units are large and must be consumed once opened.
For the specific commercial conventions that govern juice concentrate – reference Brix, reconstitution and authenticity – continue with the concentrate sourcing guide.