PhD

The study on "Development of juice-based beverage and ripe-fruit powder
from banana (Musa spp.)" was carried with the objective of developing a drying and
packaging regime for ripe banana powder and to develop a beverage based on clarified
banana juice.
Technology for spray and drum dried banana powder was standardized
through drying and packaging experiments. Good quality spray dried banana powder
could be obtained with an inlet air temperature of 150°C, keeping the outlet
temperature at 100°C with two per cent maltodextrin and three per cent soluble starch
on wet basis as additive.
Successful drum drying could be achieved with drum temperature of 152°C
with drum speed of three rpm and soluble starch 2.5 per cent on wet basis as additive.
Drum drying was found better in terms of higher recovery, lesser additive, better
quality and lesser cost of production.
Moisture sorption studies revealed that banana powder was highly
hygroscopic requiring special packaging, techniques. Gas Chromatography-Mass
Spectrometry analysis revealed that the caramelized fruity fig like aroma of banana
powder was due to Furaneol and Ethyl einnamate. Banana powder could be stored for
one year under ambient conditions without deterioration when packed in aluminium
foil laminated pouches with nitrogen.
Banana powder can be used as an ingredient in baby food, health food,
instant beverage mix, breakfast cereals, flavourings, bakery and dairy products. The
cost of production of 100 grams of spray and drum dried banana powder worked out to
be Rs.26.61 and Rs.18.66 respectively.

The technology for banana juice based beverage was also standardized.
Clear banana juice could be extracted using commercial pectinase enzyme @ 5 mll kg
pulp and incubating for four hours at room temperature. Robusta juice was superior in
terms of colour, flavour and overall acceptability compared to Poovan, karpooravalli
and Palyankodan juices.
Blended banana-mango RTS beverage in the ratio of 50:50 was preferred
by the taste panel over other fruit blends. The disadvantages in banana juice viz., lack
of colour, consistency and acidic taste could be overcome by mixing equal amounts of
mango juice. Blending banana juice with mango pulp helped in incorporating the
excellent flavour of banana and reduced the cost of production of mango R TS
beverage.
The cost of production of banana-mango RTS beverage when worked out
came to be Rs.3.84 per 200 ml bottle while that of pure mango RTS beverage was
RsA.23. The blended RTS beverage could be stored for six months under ambient
condition without deterioration. With liberalization in industrial policy and
globalization, more opportunities are created for export of value added and nutritious
products from banana. India being the largest producer of banana in the world can tap
this potential by exporting products' like ripe banana powder and juice based
beverages.