Articles
RESEARCH NEEDS AND NEW PRODUCT DEVELOPMENT FROM UNDERUTILIZED TROPICAL FRUITS
Such tropical fruits are numerous such as Falsa (Grewia asiatica), Karonda (Carassa carandas), Jungli Badam or wild Almond (Terminalia catapa), Jamun, Jaiful, Imbly or Tamarind (Tamarindus indica), Dates, variety of Melons etc.
Falsa, small purple berry, apart of being consumed as such produces highly nutritious juice of very attractive colour which is converted into powder through spray drying.
The powder has long shelf life if packed through modified atmosphere packaging (MAP).
Karonda, white small berry while immature, turns into beautiful pink and maroon colours during maturation.
The juice has low pH as 3–4 and is bitter in taste, however flavour modified by enzymic treatment and use of additives has shown wide acceptability.
Wild almonds are biennial and produce very attractive deep red juice which may be used as an excellent colourant in many food products such as dairy, custards, bakery and juices etc.
The fruits are consumed as such in view of its taste.
The plant looks very attractive during winter because of the beautiful orange to red colour of the leaves.
The anthocyanins have been isolated and studied for their great affinity towards macromolecules specially proteins.
Thus the water extract has shown potentials for commercialization as food colorant.
The brown viscous pulp from Tamarind carries delicious sour taste and is used as additive in many food preparations, while the seed’s endosperms is a good jelling agent.
The great variety of underutilized tropical fruits need attention for scientific exploration.
The future possibilities of studies on chemical structure-function relationship and its impacts on product development are explored in the present paper of discussion.