Title of Invention

A PROCESS FOR PREPARATION OF LOW CALORIE FRUIT JAM

Abstract

preparation of low calorie fruit jam This invention relates to a process for preparation of low calorie fruit jam. The draw back of the available processes of any fruit jam preparation is the use of high quantities of sugar, which cannot be used by sick, people with diabetics and by people with health consciousness. In this invention microbial gelling agent such as microbial polysaccharides has been used which obviates the use of high sucrose content, in the preparation of fruit jams especially for diabetics and for people with health consciousness.

Full Text

The present invention relates to a process for the preparation of low calorie fruit jam. Several microorganisms produce, in the presence of excess carbon sources, polysaccharides and releases into the surrounding environment, which are known as exopolysaccharides. Because of their properties akin to natural gums of plant and seaweeds these are being used as alternative sources to natural gums. Some of these exopolysaccharides can form gels upon heating. Examples being gellan, curdlan etc. These polysaccharides can be used in various food industries such as baking, dairy, beverages, confectionery, fruit juices, frozen foods, meat based products, alcoholic beverages etc., as an additive because of their ability to improve the texture, foam stabilization, clarification, inhibition of crystallization, better emulsification, encapsulation, ability to form films, which are edible in nature, water binding capacity etc. Banana (Musa spp.) is a very important tropical fruit crop and plays a major role in world trade. The fruit has been a significant foreign exchange earner. Very few reports are available on banana jam. Sammy (1994) defined a fruit jam as a product prepared by combining fruit pulp with sugar, pectin and acid and cooking to achieve a soluble solid content of 65% and to a final brix of 70°. The use of pectin needs the basic minimum sugar brix of 70°, which cannot be utilized easily by sick and especially by those suffering with diabetic. No report is available on fruit jams prepared with low calorific values or jams prepared without the use of pectin. Reference may be made to the work of Bramwell and Badrie (J. Fd. Science. Technol., 2002, 39,5: 537-541), who have reported on processing and quality evaluation of banana cheese with 0.3% or 0.5% pectin. A good gel set was obtained at 84-85° brix, pH 4.54-4.78 at 85-90° C for 30 min. They also found that with 0.3% pectin, the texture had maximum firmness and was most acceptable. The draw back of the available processes of any fruit jam preparation is the use of high quantities of sugar, which cannot be used by sick, people with diabetics and by people with health consciousness. The main object of the present invention is to provide a process to prepare a low calorie fruit jam using ripened banana fruit. Another object of the present invention is to avoid the use of pectin, which needs high levels of sugar. Still another object of the present invention is to use microbial exopolysaccharide in the preparation of fruit jam. Accordingly a process for preparation of low calorie fruit jam which comprises; a) peeling the banana fruits, slicing and pulping to obtain pulp/puree, b) heating the puree at a temperature of 75 - 90 ° C for a period of 1 -3hr, c) adding sugar at a level of 10-40% , d) characterized in that adding gelling agent microbial polysaccharides to the above obtained mixture of puree and sugar at a concentration of 0.1 to 1.0% level to obtain low calorie fruit jam. In an embodiment of the process the gelling agent used may be microbial polysaccharides. The novelty in the present invention relates to the use of microbial gelling agent, which obviates the use of high sucrose content, in the preparation of fruit jams especially for diabetics and for people with health concesiousness. The following examples are given by way of illustration of the present invention and therefore should not be construed to limit the scope of the present invention. Example-1 This example illustrates the method of fruit jam preparation using microbial exopolysaccharide as a gelling agent. Banana pulp is extracted and pre swelled gelling agent (Gellan, a commercially available gelling agent) is added at different concentrations and the °brix is adjusted to 48. These samples are heated in boiling water bath (15-20 min) until clear and cooled to allow for gel formation. Pectin is not used in these products. All the samples are analysed for physico-chemical parameters such as pH, texture and acceptability by trained panelists. The results are given in Table-1. From the table it can be seen that a concentration of 0.75% of the gelling agent is sufficient to get a jam of acceptable quality. The set time is decreased with increase in the concentration of the gelling agent. These products have low calorific value as the sugar content is less than that of the fruit jams available commercially in the market. (Table Removed)Example-2 This example illustrates the effect of concentration of sugar in banana jam. In order to obtain a low calorie banana jam, the banana jam is prepared with varied concentrations of sugar (sucrose). Banana pulp is extracted and pre swelled gelling agent (Gellan, a commercially available microbial polysaccharide) is added at a concentration of 0.70% and the °brix is adjusted from 20 to 68°, individually. These samples are heated in boiling water bath (15-20 min) until clear and cooled to allow for gel formation. All the samples are analysed for physico-chemical parameters such as pH, texture and acceptability by trained panelists. The results are given in Table-2. From the results it can be seen that a sugar concentration of 20% is sufficient to obtain excellent quality of banana jam with very low calorific value.(Table Removed)The main advantages of the present invention are: 1. A process for the preparation of fruit jams with less or no sugar is standardized. 2. The products developed in this invention contain no pectin, which obviates the use of high quantities of sugar for the preparation of fruit jams, which can revolutionize the fruit processing industry. 3. The fruit jams prepared using this invention can be relished even by diabetics with the fear of excess sugar, which is normally seen in commercial preparations. We claim: 1. A process for preparation of low calorie fruit jam which comprises; e) peeling the banana fruits, slicing and pulping to obtain pulp/puree, f) heating the puree at a temperature of 75 - 90 ° C for a period of 1 -3hr, g) adding sugar at a level of 10-40% , h) characterized in that adding gelling agent microbial polysaccharides to the above obtained mixture of puree and sugar at a concentration of 0.1 to 1.0% level to obtain low calorie fruit jam. 2. A process for preparation of low calorie fruit jam substantially as herein described with reference to the examples.

Documents:

393-DEL-2003-Abstract-(12-10-2009).pdf

393-DEL-2003-Claims-(12-10-2009).pdf

393-del-2003-claims.pdf

393-DEL-2003-Correspondence-Others-(12-10-2009).pdf

393-del-2003-correspondence-others.pdf

393-del-2003-correspondence-po.pdf

393-DEL-2003-Description (Complete)-(12-10-2009).pdf

393-del-2003-description (complete).pdf

393-DEL-2003-Form-1-(12-10-2009).pdf

393-del-2003-form-1.pdf

393-del-2003-form-18.pdf

393-del-2003-form-2.pdf

393-DEL-2003-Form-3-(12-10-2009).pdf

393-del-2003-form-3.pdf