Vfl., Fla. Research

Vfl., Fla. Research

Dreams Up Product

Virginia and Florida are getting together to produce a new product of interest to t>oth states. The product is an, apple-grapefruit frozen juice. Dr. Anthony Lopez, food technologist at Virginia Polytechnic Institute, is working with Ralph Sargeant of Universal Food Products, a citrus processing outfit. The potential new product would combine pure grapefruit juice with pure apple juice into a frozen concentrate. This is new and If it turns out commercially, many words will likely be written and spoken about it later. Dr. Lopez was, and is, developing an apple juice concentrate to sell to consumers as a beverage. This interest is basic, with VP I in the heart of the Virginia apple country where growers, too, are searching for new ways to sell all the apples they can grow. Sargeant offered Universal's facilities to Dr. Lopez for the apple concentrate development. Sargeant is Universal's head idea man. For two years he was sort of the citru6 protege of Dr. E. V. McCollum, head of the biochemi» try department at Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore, and recognized as one of the world's top biochemists. It is theorized that the apple juice would be given the natural Vitamin C of grapefruit with no need to add synthetics. The grapefruit juice would keep the apple juice from turn ing dark, also without the use of synthetics. “Furthermore,” Sargeant says “the natural tartness of grapefruit would cut the cloying sweetness, which a lot of people don't like, from apple juice. And the apple juice would temper the grapefruit t^rtnesB which a lot of people don’t like.” Lopez adds, “This project combines the scientific efforts and ideas of two big industries instead of just one and gives us the refreshing advantage of creative research brains outside our own backyard.”

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