CONVENIENCE AND HEALTH FOODS 3 (1+2)

Lesson 10 : Fruit And Vegetable Based Convenience Foods

Fruit based convenience foods

Fruit toffees: It is made from pulp of fruits such a mango and other fruits along with sugar, milk powder and other ingredients, it is boiled until it sets. Fruit toffees are made in organized sector, there is a potential for cottage scale industry.

Fruit bars: Is concentrated fruit product meant for ready consumption. Any variety of pulpy fruits e.g.; mango, guava, banana, apple etc singly or in combination can be used for manufacture. Fruit bars are very popular due to good shelf life, taste, flavor and texture. They can substitute for canned fruits and have a shelf life of one year.

Fruit Jams and Jellies Fruit pulp is boiled along with sugar to a moderately thick consistency. Popular varieties of jam are pineapple, mango, mixed fruit, straw berry, grape and apricot. Among the jellies guava and apple are popular The product can be used as a bread spread or taken with chapatti and puris.

Improved Murabba making Murabba made from amla, bael, carrot, apple, mango and citrus peel are popular. It is an indigenous sweet preparation of the country. It can be eaten with chapattis. The fruit slices are boiled in sugar syrup.

Tuty Fruity Fruits are used for making preserves and candies The apple, amla, papaya, mango, strawberry, cherry are used for candy and preserve preparation. Tuty fruity is used in bakery products, sweet meats, ice creams, salads and paan.

Osmo air dried fruits

It is a newer method that involves two stages

• The first phase is removal of water using sugar syrup as osmotic agent. For slices of fruits such as ber, pineapple, mango, jackfruit etc.
• The second phase is removal of air by drying where the moisture content is reduced to 15 percent.
• The osmo dehydrated fruits are similar to the fresh fruits in terms of colour, flavor and texture.
• They can be used in ice creams, fruit salads, kheer, cakes and bakery products.

Grape raisins Dried grapes are used in various food preparations. Manufacture of raisins can be an important industry in grape growing areas. The improved method consists of washing grapes, alkali treatment, sulphitation and drying in sun or dehydration. Any grape variety with high sugar is used. It can generate rural employment.

Dry apricots:

• The dry apricot is an important item of confection.
• The fully ripe fruits are placed in wooden chambers where sulphur is burnt at the rate of 4g/kg fruit.
• Sulphured fruits are dried in solar drier for 5-7 days.
• The dry fruits are packed in polythene bags.

Fruit juices:

Several fruit juices are now concentrated using vacuum to retain the flavor. They can be reconstituted using chilled water.

Fruit powders:

The fruit juices can be spray dried by addition of foaming agent in small quantities. The powder can be reconstituted very easily in cold water.