Fruit Juice Jam Ball
Fruit juice jam balls are small liquid-filled spheres, also traded as popping boba or juice bursting beads, in which a thin gelled membrane encloses a fruit juice or fruit syrup centre that releases when the sphere is bitten. Diameters are typically five to eight millimetres, and the beads are packed in syrup rather than dry.
The membrane is an alginate gel. Sodium alginate, extracted from brown seaweed, crosslinks instantly on contact with calcium ions, and the process uses that reaction by bringing juice and gelling system together only at the moment of forming, so that the skin sets around a still liquid centre. In the reverse spherification route the calcium salt is dissolved in the juice and the droplet is dropped into an alginate bath; in the direct route the alginate is in the juice and the bath carries the calcium. Reverse spherification is used commercially because the membrane stops thickening once the bead leaves the bath, so the centre stays liquid through storage rather than setting solid.
The finished beads are translucent, coloured to match the declared fruit, and yield with a distinct burst under light pressure. They are packed in a sugar syrup of matched soluble solids, since a syrup that is too dilute draws the juice out of the beads by osmosis and one that is too concentrated shrivels them. Product ships in pails, jars and bag-in-box, is stable at ambient temperature after pasteurisation, and must not be frozen, because ice crystals rupture the membrane.
We source bulk Fruit Juice Jam Ball from top China manufacturers for our partners. The manufacturer is in Hainan. A smaller requirement can ship in a combined container with other ingredients.
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- Function
- Bakery ingredient
Specifications
| Item | Specification |
|---|---|
| Appearance | Translucent spheres, uniform in size, free from tails and clusters |
| Colour and flavour | Typical of the declared fruit, matching the reference sample |
| Bead diameter | 5 to 8 mm, 90% within range |
| Drained weight | 50% min of net weight |
| Soluble solids of syrup | 25 to 40 degrees Brix |
| pH | 3.2 to 4.2 |
| Burst performance | Membrane ruptures under light pressure, centre remains liquid |
| Broken and collapsed beads | 5.0% max |
| Lead | 0.2 mg/kg max |
| Arsenic | 0.5 mg/kg max |
| Total plate count | 100 cfu/g max |
| Yeast and mould | 20 cfu/g max |
| E. coli | Absent in 1 g |
| Salmonella | Absent in 25 g |
Common Markets Grades
Grades are named by flavour, with mango, strawberry, passion fruit, lychee, blueberry, peach and yoghurt among the standard lines, and are specified on bead diameter, on the ratio of drained beads to syrup in the pack, and on the strength of the burst, which depends on membrane thickness. Thin membranes give a cleaner burst but are more fragile in transport, thicker membranes travel better and eat firmer.
Beyond flavour, the trade separates real juice grades, in which fruit juice or concentrate makes up a declared proportion of the centre, from flavoured syrup grades built on sugar, water, flavouring and colour. Colour source is a further distinction, with fruit and vegetable concentrates used in clean-label grades and permitted synthetic colours elsewhere. Sugar reduced versions and versions in which the syrup carries a preservative rather than being pasteurised are also made, and drained weight is always specified because the syrup is a significant proportion of the pack.
Applications
- Bubble tea and milk tea, as a bursting alternative to tapioca pearls
- Fruit teas and iced beverages, adding visible fruit inclusions
- Frozen yoghurt and ice cream toppings
- Dessert and parfait decoration in foodservice
- Bakery and pastry decoration, applied cold after baking
- Yoghurt and dairy dessert inclusions dosed at filling
- Cocktails and mocktails as a garnish
- Shaved ice and jelly dessert formats
- Retail dessert kits and snack cups
China Manufacturers of Fruit Juice Jam Ball
Top Fruit Juice Jam Ball manufacturers in China.
Company names and logos are the property of the manufacturers themselves. They are listed here because our own directory records them as producing this ingredient. A listing is not an endorsement by them, and we do not represent them or speak on their behalf.
Regulatory Status
Juice beads are a composite food rather than an additive, so the regulatory position rests on their components. 21 CFR 184.1724 affirms sodium alginate as generally recognised as safe in the United States, and Regulation (EC) No 1333/2008 authorises it in the European Union as E 401; both markets likewise permit the calcium salts used to crosslink it, calcium lactate and calcium gluconate, which appear in the ingredient declaration.
Colours, flavourings, acidulants and any preservative in the syrup must each be authorised for the relevant food category in the destination market and declared, and the colours permitted differ markedly between markets, which is the most common obstacle to selling a single formulation internationally. In the European Union certain synthetic colours require the additional label warning about effects on activity and attention in children. Where fruit juice content is claimed or implied by the product name, the declared juice proportion must support it. The beads are a small, firm object packed in liquid, so choking risk labelling and the suitability of the product for young children are a further consideration in some markets.
Manufacturing Process
The centre is prepared first: fruit juice or concentrate is standardised with water and sugar to the target soluble solids, and a soluble calcium salt, most often calcium lactate or calcium gluconate, is dissolved into it along with colour and flavour. The mixture is deaerated, since trapped air makes the beads float and form tails rather than spheres.
Forming is continuous. The juice is metered through a multi-nozzle dropping head into a bath of sodium alginate solution, and each droplet forms a gelled skin the moment it enters, the thickness of which is set by residence time in the bath. The beads are lifted out on a mesh conveyor, rinsed in water to stop the reaction and remove surface alginate, then transferred into a sugar syrup adjusted to the same soluble solids as the centre so that no osmotic exchange occurs during storage. Beads and syrup are filled together into pails or jars and pasteurised in pack at a temperature high enough to secure the shelf life but low enough not to soften the membrane, then cooled and held. Drained weight, bead diameter and burst performance are checked on each lot.
