Apricot, peach and plum processing

Being a product for transformation into various delicacies (such as juices, yogurt bases, baby foods, ice cream and jam) fruit puree has always been a focus in Bertuzzi’s 80 year-old history.
If apricots or peaches, cherries or plums, there is hardly any application for which Bertuzzi is incapable in offering the right solution to meet its customers’ needs.

Washing and sorting

Stones fruits (apricot, peaches and plums) are received in the Bertuzzi washer InoxAll where, by immersion in the water and thanks to a Jet System, the surface of the fruits is washed. Fruits are then rinsed by a shower of fresh water on the elevator that takes the fruits to the subsequent sorting operations.

In order to guarantee the best quality of the final products, rotten and unripe fruits must be discarded. Bertuzzi universal sorting line Selinox allows to efficiently inspect the fruits, by making them slowly rotate on a roller belt conveyor under the sight of the operators.

Three parallel washing basins model InoxAll (background) and sorting lines model Selinox (foreground). This plant is capable of processing up to 42 tons per hour of apricots
In smaller plants, fruits are manually fed directly into washing basin model InoxAll

Pitting

The Bertuzzi Expeller Maxi is a destoning machine fitted for the treatment of peaches, plums, apricots and cherries. This patented machine has a capacity of up to 18.000 kg/h of fresh fruit and it is capable of processing also hard and large fruits without severe losses in yield.
A JumboCreamer, or a SuperCreamer (depending on the capacity), with a dedicated set up, is used to clean the stones coming from Expeller Maxi in order to recover all possible pulp.

Expeller Maxi (top) and JumboCreamer (bottom)
In this large plant destoning operations are carried out by two Expeller Maxi (second floor) and two JumboCreamer (first floor)
Stones are dried outside the plant

Puree extraction: cold peeling and cooking

For a perfect separation of the puree from peels Bertuzzi is proud of the highly sophisticated pulper, refiner and turbo extractor model Turbomax. The machine can be supplied with inverter suitable to adjust the rotation speed and with an inert gas injection device, for protecting product against oxidation. The same machine is the basis of our cold peeling system.

Turbomax pulper
Peels and fibers after being separated from pulp by Turbomax
A tubular cooker model CTTP (right) installed in a stone fruit processing plant

Puree concentration

Puree can be optionally concentrated. Depending on the characteristics of the product and of the plant, purees can be concentrated either by the forced circulation evaporator model Frumaco or by the thin film scraped surface evaporator model Luber (in case of small capacities). The Luber is designed to concentrate in a single fast passage either thermo-sensitive liquid or highly viscous products.

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Largest evaporator ever supplied by Bertuzzi, model Frumaco. It is part of a plant capable of processing 42 tons per hour of fresh apricots, installed in China
The separators of the four effects/five stage Frumaco evaporator installed in a 42 t/h apricot concentrated puree line
Frumaco with Aroma Recovery Unit ARU

Puree sterilization and filling

The stone fruit puree, concentrated or natural single strenght, can be sterilized or pasteurized depending by the specific request of the application, by a tube-in-tube heat exchanger.

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In case of sterilization, the product can be filled in aseptic bag in drums or in box thanks to Bertuzzi Aseptic Fillers or in any type of aseptic filling machine (aseptic carton box, aseptic pouches...), while the pasteurized product can be filled in durms with liner or in any type of hot or cold filling machine (glass, PET, pouches...)

Click to see more information on the Bertuzzi Aseptic Filling Machines

Tubular sterilizer
Aseptic filler Aseptica Gemina during precommissioning
Aseptic filler Aseptica Prima during operation
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Drums of fruit puree and juice, ready for shipping

Jam and fruit bases

Fruit puree can be processed to produce jam and fruit bases for yogurt, bakery and ice creams.
Jam production Fruit bases for bakery and yogurt

Cleaning of the plant

All Bertuzzi lines are designed according to the international food grade requirements and to be fully cleanable by exploiting integrated cleaning procedures and systems or centralized and fully automatic CIP system. The Bertuzzi CipMatic is specifically designed to guarantee a perfect and efficent CIP of the fruit processing plants.

CipMatic

a CipMatic 1.500/3 installed on a fresh fruit processing line
a Bertuzzi CipMatic 3.000/3 installed in a juice and milk reconstitution line