9 min readPathway sheetUsually a 5-mark answer; making a squash or ketchup can be a 10-mark question

Practical: squash, fruit beverages, sauce and ketchup

Squash is fruit juice with sugar, acid and a preservative, diluted before drinking. Ketchup is strained tomato pulp cooked down with sugar, salt, vinegar and spices.

Squash (textbook values)At least 25% juice, about 40-50% TSS, about 1% acid; diluted before drinking

Preservative choiceKMS for light-coloured juices; sodium benzoate for coloured ones

Ketchup end pointAbout one-third of the pulp volume, or the TSS in your manual (often about 25-30%)

Fruit beverages (classic textbook values from the old Fruit Products Order, not current law)

Beverage	Fruit juice (at least)	TSS	Note
Ready-to-serve (RTS)	10%	About 10%	Drunk as it is; about 0.3% acid; pasteurised
Nectar	20%	About 15%	Pulpy; drunk as it is
Squash	25%	40-50%	Cloudy; diluted before drinking; preservative added
Cordial	25%	About 30%	Clear, sparkling squash
Crush	25%	About 55%	Contains pulp; diluted
Fruit syrup	25%	About 65%	Very sweet; diluted

Practical: mango or lime squash

1
Select ripe, sound fruit; wash; extract the juice or pulp
lime: cut and press; mango: pulp and strain
2
Calculate sugar, acid and water for the batch
see the worked example
3
Dissolve sugar and citric acid in the water by heating; strain the syrup
4
Cool the syrup and mix in the juice
do not boil the juice; saves flavour and vitamin C
5★
Add the preservative dissolved in a little squash
KMS for mango, lime, orange; sodium benzoate for jamun, kokum, phalsa; amount within the FSSAI limit in your manual
6★
Fill sterilised bottles, leaving a little headspace, and seal
7
Label and store cool
dilute before serving, commonly about 1 part squash to 3 parts water

★ one-way, controls the pace

Worked example: ingredients for 1 kg of mango squash

Problem

Make 1 kg of squash with 25% mango pulp, 45% TSS and 1.2% acidity (as citric acid). The pulp has 15% TSS and 0.3% acidity. Ignore the small refractometer reading of the added acid.

Working

Pulp = 1000 × 25 ÷ 100 = 250 g.
TSS needed = 1000 × 45 ÷ 100 = 450 g; pulp supplies 250 × 15 ÷ 100 = 37.5 g; sugar = 450 − 37.5 = 412.5 g.
Acid needed = 1000 × 1.2 ÷ 100 = 12 g; pulp supplies 250 × 0.3 ÷ 100 = 0.75 g; citric acid = 12 − 0.75 = 11.25 g.
Water = 1000 − 250 − 412.5 − 11.25 = 326.25 g.
Check: 250 + 412.5 + 11.25 + 326.25 = 1000 g.

Answer

Pulp 250 g + sugar 412.5 g + citric acid 11.25 g + water 326.25 g = 1 kg, plus the preservative.

Practical: tomato ketchup

1
Select fully ripe, deep-red tomatoes; wash and cut
2
Heat the pieces quickly to near boiling ('hot break')
destroys pectin-splitting enzymes; keeps ketchup thick
3
Pass through a pulper or sieve to remove skin and seeds
4★
Cook the pulp with a spice bag (onion, garlic, clove, cinnamon, cardamom, chilli) and part of the sugar
avoid iron and copper vessels
5
When well reduced, add salt, the rest of the sugar and vinegar; remove the spice bag
6★
Cook to the end point
about one-third of the original volume, or the TSS in your manual (often about 25-30%)
7
Add sodium benzoate dissolved in a little water
amount within the FSSAI limit
8
Fill hot into sterilised bottles, crown-cork, cool and label

★ one-way, controls the pace

Ketchup vs sauce

KetchupA thick, smooth, strained sweet-sour product, usually of tomato, cooked down with sugar, salt, vinegar and spices; higher in solids.

SauceUsually thinner; can be made from many fruits and vegetables (chilli, tamarind, soya, apple) and may contain pieces. Shops often use the two words loosely for tomato products.

Ketchup defects: black neck (a dark ring at the bottle neck from iron reacting with tannins of spices such as clove), separation of liquid (prevented by hot break and proper concentration), and mould or fermentation (poor sealing or too little preservative).

In food and nutrition

Squashes and ketchup are high in sugar and salt: a glass of diluted squash adds mainly energy, and ketchup adds some lycopene but also sodium. For diabetic and hypertensive patients, limit them; plain lime juice or a less sweet RTS drink is a better choice.

Exam angle

2 marks: “Why is sodium benzoate, not KMS, used for coloured juices like jamun?” Sulphur dioxide from KMS bleaches the red-purple anthocyanin pigments; sodium benzoate does not, so it is used for coloured juices.

5 marks: “Describe the preparation of tomato ketchup.” Select, wash, hot break, pulp, cook with spice bag and sugar, add salt and vinegar, cook to the end point, add sodium benzoate, fill hot, seal; defects such as black neck.

10 marks: “Classify fruit beverages. Describe the preparation of a fruit squash.” Table of RTS, nectar, squash, cordial, crush and syrup with juice and TSS; squash steps with the calculation, choice of preservative, bottling and storage.

Remember it

Juice share: RTS 10, nectar 20, squash-cordial-crush-syrup 25. Light juice → KMS; coloured juice → benzoate.