Purple Sweet Potato Concentrated Juice
Purple sweet potato concentrated juice is the pressed juice of purple fleshed Ipomoea batatas roots, evaporated under vacuum to a high solids concentrate and used as a colouring food. Unlike a refined sweet potato colour extract, the pigment is not separated from the rest of the juice; the anthocyanins are concentrated together with the sugars, organic acids, minerals and soluble carbohydrate of the root, in broadly the proportions in which they occur there.
That is what the product is bought for. Because it remains a food rather than a purified pigment, it is declared on the label as concentrated purple sweet potato juice rather than as a colour, which is the declaration many brands want for a clean ingredient list. The cost is strength and consistency: colour value is much lower than in an extract, it varies with crop and season, and the sugar load the concentrate carries into the recipe has to be balanced elsewhere.
The colouring principles are acylated cyanidin and peonidin glycosides, among the most heat and light stable anthocyanins in food use. Shade is violet in the mid acid range, red purple below pH 3.5 and blue purple above pH 5. The concentrate is a dark purple viscous liquid at roughly 40 to 68 degrees Brix, fully miscible with water and insoluble in oil, and it is bleached by sulphur dioxide and by chlorinated process water.
We source bulk Purple Sweet Potato Concentrated Juice from top China manufacturers for our partners. The manufacturer is in Hubei. A smaller requirement can ship in a combined container with other ingredients.
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- Function
- Colorant
Specifications
| Item | Specification |
|---|---|
| Appearance | Dark purple viscous liquid |
| Soluble Solids | 65 degrees Brix, plus or minus 1 |
| Colour Value E1% 1cm at 530 nm | 3.0 minimum |
| Anthocyanins as cyanidin 3-glucoside | 0.15% minimum |
| pH | 3.5 to 5.0 |
| Titratable Acidity as citric acid | 0.8% to 2.5% |
| Starch | Negative to iodine test |
| Sulphur Dioxide | 10 mg/kg maximum |
| Lead | 0.5 mg/kg maximum |
| Arsenic | 0.5 mg/kg maximum |
| Total Plate Count | 1000 cfu/g maximum |
| Yeast and Mould | 100 cfu/g maximum |
| E. coli | Absent in 5 g |
| Salmonella | Absent in 25 g |
Common Markets Grades
Concentrates are specified on soluble solids, usually 45, 60 or 65 degrees Brix, with a colour value measured as E1% 1cm near 530 nm and an anthocyanin figure expressed as cyanidin 3-glucoside. Because the raw material is agricultural, suppliers work to a colour value range and standardise between batches by blending lots or adjusting with water rather than by adding isolated pigment, which would change the regulatory character of the product.
Clarified and unclarified versions are offered. Clarified concentrate is depectinised and filtered to stay bright in clear drinks; unclarified concentrate retains more body and suits opaque products. Spray dried powders on maltodextrin are used where a dry ingredient is required, although the carrier can undercut the clean label advantage that the concentrate was chosen for. Frozen concentrate is traded where the cold chain allows it, since freezing preserves colour better than ambient storage. Organic certified, non-GMO documented and kosher certified material is common in this segment.
Applications
- Juices, nectars and smoothies, where a juice ingredient reads naturally on the label
- Flavoured waters, still drinks and lemonades at controlled pH
- Yoghurt and fruit preparations for dairy, giving violet shades without an additive declaration
- Ice cream, sorbet and frozen fruit bars in taro and ube profiles
- Clean label confectionery, jellies and gummies
- Bakery fillings, glazes and steamed bun doughs
- Cereal bars, granola clusters and fruit snacks
- Infant and toddler products where additive colours are avoided
- Alcoholic ready to drink beverages, coolers and ciders
- Blending with purple carrot or elderberry concentrate to reach a target shade
China Manufacturers of Purple Sweet Potato Concentrated Juice
Top Purple Sweet Potato Concentrated Juice 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
The classification of this product as a colouring food rather than as an additive is its commercial basis. In the European Union that boundary is set out in European Commission guidance, which turns on whether the process selectively extracts or concentrates the pigment relative to the other components of the source material. A concentrate produced only by pressing, filtering and evaporating water remains a food and is declared by an ingredient name such as concentrated purple sweet potato juice. A preparation in which the pigment has been captured on resin is instead the food colour E 163, authorised under Regulation (EC) No 1333/2008 with purity criteria in Regulation (EU) No 231/2012 and restricted to the categories in its annexes.
In the United States the outcome is similar but the reasoning differs, because a colour additive is defined by the function for which it is added rather than by its degree of processing. A juice concentrate added to give colour is therefore a colour additive, and it is sold under the listings for vegetable juice colour and dehydrated vegetable juice colour in 21 CFR Part 73, which are exempt from certification; the supplier declaration should name the listing relied upon. Where the concentrate is added for flavour or nutritional contribution it is handled as a food ingredient. JECFA has evaluated anthocyanins, and provisions appear in the Codex General Standard for Food Additives.
Manufacturing Process
Roots are received, washed and inspected, then milled to a mash. The mash is warmed and treated with pectinase and often with an amylase, since sweet potato is starch rich and untreated starch makes pressing and later filtration difficult. The treated mash is pressed on a belt or decanter press, the cake washed and re-pressed, and the combined juice screened. Where a clear concentrate is required the juice is depectinised further and filtered, sometimes through a membrane stage.
The juice is concentrated in a multiple effect falling film evaporator under vacuum, which removes water at temperatures low enough to limit anthocyanin degradation, and the concentrate is standardised to the target Brix and colour value. It is pasteurised on a plate or tubular heat exchanger with a short hold, cooled rapidly and filled into drums, totes or aseptic bags. Powder grades take the standardised concentrate, blend it with maltodextrin and spray dry it at a low outlet temperature. No selective pigment separation step is used at any stage, which is what keeps the product within the colouring food category.
