May 26, 2016

MicroDried fruits, vegetables offer processing alternative

Milne’s Fruit Products are bringing a new process and uses to dried fruits and vegetables. Milne’s MicroDried products began in 2012 with fruits; vegetables were introduced to the line in 2013.

The line includes aronia, blackberry, blueberry, carrot, cherry, cranberry, pomegranate, strawberry and sweet potato, among others.

MicroDried Aronia powder. Photos: Milne Fruit Products
MicroDried Aronia powder. Photos: Milne Fruit Products

MicroDried fruits and vegetables can be offered whole, fragmented or as powders, depending on customers’ needs. The finished product can be packaged as a snack or used as an ingredient or additive to another product. Milne’s MicroDried fruits and vegetables can be used as toppings for packaged salads, whether as fragments or used as an additive in dressings. They are also used as smoothie ingredients for McDonald’s, according to the company.

“We are putting fruits and vegetables in some unique places,” said Steve Nugent, director of IQF, dried and export sales.

Milne’s MicroDried fruits have made their way into craft beers and ciders, a market fruits have typically not served.

“The brewery business is certainly something that hasn’t used a lot of fruits, but they’re starting to get into that. And our product definitely gives them the ability to do that.”

Milne currently offers nine fruits in the MicroDried line for brews and ciders.

To produce these fruit fragments and powders, Milne uses individually quick frozen (IQF) fruits and vegetables. IQF fruits or vegetables are run through convection dryers, where moisture is removed, and then a vacuum microwave dryer.

“It basically puffs the fruit back up and finishes drying it under low heat,” Nugent said. “It gives you a dry product that looks fresh, is puffed up almost to actual size and has extremely good flavor and color.”

Milne’s drying process allows for high and low moisture level offerings as well as other advantages compared to other drying methods, Nugent said.

MicroDried Aronia. Photo: Milne Fruit Products
MicroDried Aronia

“We like to think of our technology as the next generation of dried fruits and vegetables,” Nugent said. “There are lots of advantages over all three of the various drying technologies (freeze drying, conventional dehydrating and infusion drying).”

For example, Nugent said Milne’s MicroDried products have a microbial advantage over freeze-drying because heat is used. Compared to infusion drying, MicroDried fruits and vegetable fragments and powders have a color advantage, he said.

“Our products look very much like IQF products,” Nugent said.

Milne’s vacuum microwave dryers process fruits and vegetables without stripping away nutrients, color or flavor. The drying process gives the MicroDried fruits and vegetables a minimum two-year shelf life, when stored properly, according to the company. The fruits and vegetables are packed in resistant bags with barriers to protect the product and then placed inside a corrugated box.

Milne products are also WSDA, USDA, BRC and Kosher certified.

Ana Olvera, digital content editor





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