METHOD FOR PROCESSING WATERMELONS Russian patent published in 2017 - IPC A23L3/00 

FIELD: food industry.

SUBSTANCE: pre-prepared watermelons are peeled with the peel thickness of 0.5-2.0 mm, pericarp is separated from pulp, the pericarp is cut into pieces with surface area of 1.0-4.0 cm² and infused in three stages at the weight ratio of pericarp pieces and sugar at each stage of 1:(0.2-0.3) within 3-7 h at the first stage and 2-5 h at the second and third ones, the pulp is cut into pieces with the surface area of 0.7-3.0 cm² and infused in two stages, with the weight ratio of pulp pieces and sugar at each stage of 1:(0.2-0.25) for 2-5 h at the first stage and 1-2 h at the second stage. The second stage of the pulp infusion and the third stage of the pericarp infusion are carried out at a process temperature of 40-50°C, and the juice obtained at all stages of the pulp and pericarp infusion is combined and boiled out at a temperature of 65-70°C to the content of dry substances in the resulting mass of 70-80%, to obtain a semifinished watermelon product, then the watermelon is peeled with a peel thickness of 0.5-2.0 mm, the surface area of the pulp pieces is 0.5-1.5 cm², that of the pericarp pieces - 0.5-3.0 cm². The pulp is infused in two stages, with the weight ratio of the pulp pieces and the semi-finished watermelon product at each stage of 1:(0.25-0.3) for 5-7 h at the first stage and 3-5 h at the second stage, and the pericarp is infused in three stages, with the weight ratio of the pericarp pieces and sugar at each stage of 1:(0.3-0.35) for 6-8 h at the first stage and for 5-7 h at the second and third stages. The second stage of the pulp infusion and the third stage of the pericarp infusion are carried out at a process temperature of 40-50°C, and the juice obtained at all stages of the pulp and pericarp infusion is combined and boiled out at a temperature of 70-75°C to the content of dry substances in the resulting mass of 60-70%, with some of the resulting half-finished watermelon product being used while infusing the pulp and pericarp pieces.

EFFECT: invention makes it possible to improve the technological properties of the resulting semi-finished product due to increasing the weight fraction of reducing sugars in it.

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