Mixing Solutions For The Manufacturing Of Smoothies

A smoothie is made by blending raw fruits or vegetables with water, fruit juice, or milk. It may also contain other ingredients such as grains, herbs, or proteins. Generally, a smoothie has a higher viscosity than a juice, due to the high solids content and the natural thickening effect of some ingredients, such as banana and mango.

Smoothies are produced in a wide range of batch sizes, from individual portions in catering establishments to bulk production.

Some manufacturers use whole fruit and/or vegetables while others may buy prepared purées and blend them. Consequently, there are many different methods used to produce smoothies and many different types of equipment are used.

In this paper we review a number of problems in the mixing portion of manufacturing process and how a mixer with high shear action of a rotor/stator workhead can overcome those challenges.