Cashew apple is the residue left from rural farming in the cashew nut industry. To prevent this loss, professor Prasanna BD from the division of Chemical Engineering in the NIT Karnataka based in Mangalore has formulated a new technology to produce an alcoholic liquor.
As per a report in BusinessLine, the NITK has received a patent for manufacturing an alcoholic drink with raisins and cashew apples.
Benefits of cashew apples
As per the data published in The Hindu BusinessLine, even though cashew apples are wasted agricultural produce, they are enriched with energy, containing carbs, amino acids, vitamins, minerals, organic acids, phenolics, carotenoids, and other antioxidants. Besides, about 200 to 275ml per 100ml of cashew apple juice is considered to have 5 to 7 times more ascorbic acid than the same amount of orange juice.
Brazil, India, and Nigeria made several attempts to find other purposes for using cashew apples. They tried making health drinks and raw materials; however, they failed to satisfy customers and kick-start the business in the market.
Scientific expertise for wine preparation from cashew apples
Professor Prasanna from NITK told BusinessLine that the new technology developed by him used raisins and cashew apples to form a fermented drink. The clear pink color with candy and fruity taste of this drink was because of the scents of the cashew apples and the required acidity level like a fragile bunch of flowers.
As per the professor, this drink did not have the acidity level of the cashew apples. The alcohol content is also between 7.5 to 15% v/v. He further stated that “feni” was a distilled drink and the cashew apples alcoholic drink was not a distilled product.
As per him, the distilled drink contains more alcohol proportion and other nutritional vitamins with misplaced antioxidants. Chemical and biological processes turn the color of these drinks brown.
Prasanna indicated that the fruity flavors disappear quickly during storage and make it tough for the producers to give an unvarying quality drink to the end-users. Wine made with cashew apple does not have the same transparent color, but the alcoholic brew made by him gave out a clear pink color as the original wine.
Raisins used in wine-making
Raisins were used to compensate for the lack of content in cashews. Wine is supposed to have around 12 to 15% alcohol in it and requires 30% more sugar for fermentation.
Raisins help meet the sugar requirements as cashews can only provide 12 to 15% of the total sugar. Raisins from the VijayaPura were used by Prasanna in the experiment as raisins help in adding flavor to the drink and also aid in fermentation. The information was provided to BusinessLine.
Farmers of India get only Rs 10 for one kg as cashew apples form the majority of throwaway waste in farm produce. The expertise of Prasanna BD can help save agricultural waste and bring forth a change in the alcoholic drink business.
The patent application for this process was filed in 2012 and received on May 4, 2022. Prasanna declared that as NITK was waiting to switch this expertise to entrepreneurs and corporations, during the execution, they would facilitate the required technical assistance to the licensee.
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An English-language food and beverage processing and packaging industry B2B platform in print and web, IndiFoodBev is in its third year of publication. It is said that the Indian food and beverage industries represent approximately US$ 900 billion in revenues which implies more than 20% of the country’s GDP. Eliminating the wastage on the farmside can help to deliver more protein to a higher number of the population apart from generating sizable exports. The savings in soil, seeds, water, fertilizer, energy and ultimately food and nutrition could be the most immense contribution that country is poised to make to the moderation of climate change.
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Naresh Khanna – 10 February 2025
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