The ancient Peruvian Incas from the Andes developed a basic process of freeze-drying with is the removal of water content from frozen food. The freezing temperatures of the mountains combined with the high altitudes made this possible. With the advent of World War II this technique was considered as a solution to the problem of storing and preserving blood plasma and penicillin.
In 1940 Richard Stetson Morse founded The National Research Corporation in Boston, MA. to research vacuum packing and freeze-drying. The US Army had a request for 500,000 lb powdered orange juice. Under the leadership of John M. Fox NRC's new branch, Florida Foods Corporation won a contract to provide the powder for $750,000. However, the war ended before the factory could be built. The company chose to proceed forward despite the end of the contract, but decided against powered orange juice. Instead they developed a procedure to remove 80% of the water from the orange juice and invented the first concentrate frozen juice product on the market. From a slow start, going door to door, the product quickly became a hit with the name of Minute Maid.
In 1949 the company changed its name to Minute Maid and in 1960 it was purchased by Coca-Cola. As of today Coca-Cola is the worlds largest producer of fruit juices.
-Professor Walter
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