FLORIDA STATE HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY 
139 
After the juice is extracted the next 
step is the clarification, or removal of cell 
membranes and other suspended solids. 
Some have attempted to accomplish this 
by filtration but in most cases have met 
with small success because the colloidal, 
gelatinous material contained in the juice 
immediately clogs up the filtering me¬ 
dium. I know of only one case where 
the filtration of freshly extracted juice 
appears to have been successful on a com¬ 
mercial scale. This company is said to 
have a special secret process which re¬ 
moves not only the. suspended solids but 
also the colloidal matter which is an in¬ 
herent constituent of the fresh juice. 
Other methods of clarification depend 
on the use of centrifugal machines 
(something on the order of a cream sepa¬ 
rator) and in still other cases the juice 
is allowed to stand until the solids settle 
out and the clarified juice can be drawn 
off from the top. A very important 
point, on which opinions differ widely, 
is the degree of clarification which is 
most desirable. This point will be re¬ 
ferred to again later on. 
The clarified juice must next be pas¬ 
teurized before it is ready for the market. 
The problem here consists of finding the 
happy medium between too much heat 
and not enough heat. And right here let 
me emphasize that the average person 
seems to have an absolutely wrong im¬ 
pression of the real problems involved 
in preserving citrus fruit juices. Most of 
them think that the main trouble is to 
prevent alcoholic fermentation, but this 
is a great mistake. In fact it is really 
astonishing how little heat is needed to 
accomplish this, particularly in the case 
of grapefruit juice. However, there are 
other biological factors to contend with, 
such as mold growths and certain sec¬ 
ondary fermentations which produce a 
very unpleasant taste. On the other 
hand, if too much heat is used the del¬ 
icate fresh fruit flavor is injured and a 
“cooked” taste develops. Another impor¬ 
tant factor is the time of heating, and so 
we must find just the right combination 
of time and temperature and the best way 
to apply the heat, in order to secure per¬ 
fect results. 
And now we come to the real troubles. 
A good many workers have solved the 
above mentioned problems in a more or 
less satisfactory way only to find that 
the. juice was not permanent. After keep¬ 
ing it for some time—anywhere from a 
few days to several months—the color 
turns dark, the colloidal solids precipitate 
out, and, as a rule, a stale, unpleasant 
flavor develops. This combination of 
dark color and precipitated solids ren¬ 
ders the product unsightly and unsaleable, 
for it is a well known fact that the sale 
of such products depends very largely 
upon their appearance. A few workers, 
especially in recent years, have met this 
situation by following the. line of least 
resistance. That is to say they have given 
up their efforts to produce a cloudy, 
natural colored juice and are recommend¬ 
ing a product from which all of the colloi¬ 
dal solids have been removed and which 
has more or less darkened in color. 
This brings us right down to the heart 
of the matter—the real point of my pa¬ 
per—which is a discussion of cloudy, nat¬ 
ural colored juice versus clear, dark, un¬ 
natural juice. Which is the better prod- 
