Food Research Lab formulated a smoothie powder that had fine particles sizes that contributed to the free-flowing rheology of the product. The smoothie powder can be mixed with water or any suitable beverage making it a good ready-to-drink RTD beverage product.
Our client wanted to include organic blueberry as the predominant ingredient in the smoothie powder since they owned and cultivated acres of organic blueberries.
We freeze-dried blueberries so that they could be frozen in sealed containers or freezer bags. Freeze-dried blueberries will keep their finest quality for about 12 to 18 months if stored properly but safe for longer.
Rinse your fresh or frozen blueberries and arrange them on a baking pan lined with parchment paper. There is no specific recipe for this; bake your berries at a low temperature until they reach the desired dryness level. The longer it takes to dry things, the lower the temperature you use.
The blueberries took 5 hours to dry to a chewy consistency using convection at 170 degrees Fahrenheit. At that low of a temperature, it takes around 8 hours to dry completely. We removed the smaller berries as they dried since they were firm.
The Blueberries dried entirely in 1 to 2 hours as we increased the temperature to 300 degrees Fahrenheit. We then pulverized the blueberries to a fine powder.
On its own, the dried blueberry powder doesn’t have much of a blueberry flavour. To get the authentic blueberry flavour, it needs a little sweetener, just like fresh blueberries. The dried blueberry powder has a tangy flavour that is akin to citrus zest on its own. So we added sweeteners, natural preservatives and permitted food-grade colours to meet our client specifications. The organic blueberry powder can be made into a smoothie, consumed as a cold drink, or add toppings.
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Food Research Lab strives for excellence in new Food, Beverage and Nutraceutical Product Research and Development by offering cutting edge scientific analysis and expertise.
