UPLB researchers develop exotic drinks from local fruits

The Food Science Cluster (FSC) of UP Los Banos-College of Agriculture is currently developing juice drinks and wine mostly from local fruits. These are bignay wine; calamansi and pineapple juices blended with other fruit juices such as cucumber and banana; and duhat juice. 

Dr. Erlinda I. Dizon is focused on making wine from bignay, duhat and mango, fruits from trees growing naturally in Philippine forests. She is also evaluating the quality of alcoholic beverages made from local corn and sweet potato. She previously developed wine from the carabao and pico types of mango and from coconut water.

Dr. Linda B. Mabesa is in the process of evaluating calamansi juice blended with other juices such as passion fruit, cucumber, and mango.

University researcher Marife T. Ombico is developing spray-dried instant juice and powder from duhat skeels and spray-dried instant banana-pineapple juice blend. Ombico recently developed spray-dried juice and powder from carabao green mango.

University researcher Teodora M. de Villa is working on spray-dried instant pineapple-calamansi, pineapple-mango, pineapple-orange, and pineapple-guava juice and powder blends. De Villa previously made juice from both green and ripe tamarind.

FSC has samples of products available for sale. Wines, beverages, and ubi powder are continuously produced in the FSC facility depending on the availability of the raw materials. Seasoned fruits are sometimes stored in the freezer for future processing. Since most of the potential fruits for wine-making are available only during the months of April and May, selling the products normally starts in November. However, Erlinda Sanchez, administrative officer of the FSC, reported that typhoon Milenyo greatly reduced the availability of bignay and duhat this year.

The FSC-developed spray-dried instant juices are different from the popular instant juice powder products in the market which are mostly synthetic copies of imported fruits and have artificial flavor and color. Researchers utilize spray-drying technologies, for which the FSC has a pending patent application. The juice or puree is dispersed or atomized to form droplets and sprayed into a heated chamber where it is dried and forms a "flowing" powder. The more common technologies such as convection, cabinet, and drum drying are more costly, more labor-intensive, more complicated, and more likely to cause "powder burns." The spray-drying process has a higher retention of vitamin C and the pro-vitamins A and beta-carotene.

The resulting instant juice from the spray-drying process can be used as flavoring for ice cream, baking products, and confectioners, and in the manufacture of baby food. It can also be used as flavoring and as a coloring agent in pharmaceutical and cosmetic preparations.

Most of the FSC’s projects are income-generating. Some of their products, such as processed ubi powder and tropical fruit wines, have even been featured in ABS-CBN’s livelihood program, "Kumikitang Kabuhayan." The sales made on the wines, beverages, and ubi powder are used to fund the cluster’s research projects. That is why market acceptability is an important part of the study of these products. "Sensory evaluation" is carried out and numerous formulations are made to determine consumer acceptability of the products.

The FSC — which is currently headed by Dr. Reynaldo C. Mabesa — is tasked with converting raw agricultural materials into a wide variety of properly processed or preserved food, which must also be wholesome, nutritious, and affordable. The cluster is focused on the disciplines of food chemistry, engineering, and microbiology. (With report from AP Dominguita, UPLB-PAO)