BENGALURU: Jackfruit chips and papad are an all-time favourite, but have you heard of jackfruit chocolates, cookies or juice? The Indian Institute of Horticulture and Research (IIHR), Bengaluru, has developed all of the above and these will soon be available in the market.
For the first time in the country, Arka Halasuras, an enzyme clarified ready-to-drink jackfruit beverage is being developed by IIHR. It took IIHR four years of research to come up with these products, which were developed by the principal scientist of IIHR, Dr C K Narayana.
According to Narayana, this is the first-of-its-kind product from any research lab in India. “Jackfruit is very popular in the market but not many products have been made from it. In a meeting with the researchers we decided to come up with other products which can be consumed,” Dr Narayana said.
Dr Narayana added, “The process involves the use of a cocktail of enzymes to liquefy the thick jackfruit pulp. It is done in two stages.”
The beverage has no added sugar, acid or preservatives but will remain sweet due to its inherent fructose and sorbitol. It has a shelf life of six months if stored in a glass bottle under room temperature. One kilogram of fruit can yield 2.5-3.0 litres of ready-to-drink juice.
Next is the Arka Jackolate, which is a jackfruit seed powder-based chocolate. “Seeds constitute 12-23% of a jackfruit, which is thrown away as waste. Looking at its therapeutic values, use of jackfruit seed in our regular diet can enhance our nutrition. So we decided to go with chocolates which will provide immediate calories when exhausted, high amount of antioxidants which help in preventing Alzheimer’s disease and high levels of cholesterol,” he said. Besides, Arka Jackies are developed which are the seed powder-based cookies or biscuits.