29 Sep A liquid sweetener from cashew apple: Boosting farmers income through cashew apple value addition
Cashew apple is a pseudofruit enriched in sugars especially reducing sugars (glucose and fructose), polyphenols, carotenoids, vitamins, minerals, organic acids, amino acids and fiber. Many value added products have been developed using cashew apples including fermented and unfermented food products. However, the fruit is still underutilized where more than 90% of the fruits are left in the orchards as waste, attributing to low shelf life, low palatability, limited market availability for value added products and lack of awareness among people.
This invention focuses on utilizing the cashew apple in developing a sweetener which has high demand in the market, has wider applications in food industries and household, has longer shelf life and requires minimum inputs for production. Cashew apples are rich source of polyphenols including tannins (0.35%). These tannins along with uroshiols (3%) impart astringency to the cashew apple juice and its value-added products. Thus, it is very imperative to remove these compounds to enhance the palatability of the product. The process was standardized to remove astringency causing compounds from cashew apples and development of the jaggery from the resulting cashew apple juice.
Cashew apple liquid sweetener has various minerals like potassium, zinc and iron and is high in soluble fibre and anti-oxidant activity. The glycemic index of this liquid sweetener comes under the moderate category (58.30), providing a good alternative for people who are looking for healthy sweeteners. It is constituted of 81.91% total carbohydrates, 75.48% of reducing sugar, 13.43% moisture, 2.02% protein, and 0.97% fat. It has a shelf life of more than 1 year at room temperature.
With its unique sugar profile (high fructose and glucose) cashew apple liquid sweetener has huge potential in confectionary and bakery industries. It has wider application in health sector. It is free from additives, preservatives, and artificial ingredients, making it a cleaner option compared to many processed sweeteners.
The technology is easy to adopt, and can be prepared in already existing processing unit with simple equipment such as juice extractor, gas stove, packaging unit etc. The yield of this sweetener is approximately 4% on juice basis and 10% on fruit basis. The cost of production for 1 kg jaggery is Rs. 915/- (excluding machinery and building cost) and with 20% profit this product can be sold at Rs. 1098 per kg.
This technology has been granted patent and commercialized to 2 private industries and 1 SHG under nonexclusive licensing.
Author
Dr. Jyoti Nishad*, Dr. Aswathy Chandrakumar, Dr. Bhagya H.P.,
ICAR-Directorate of Cashew Research, P.O. Darbe, Puttur-574 202
Dakshina Kannada District, Karnataka, India
*Corresponding author: Scientist (Food Technology)
Email id: bhumi.nishad@gmail.com; jyoti.nishad@icar.org.in
