Value added products in Banana
Banana chips: Chips are the only processed banana product widely manufactured on a commercial scale in India. Banana chips are made by deep frying of raw banana slices in a suitable cooking medium. Nendran types like Nedunendran, Manjeri Nendran, Chengalikodan, Myndoli, Attunendran, Zanzibar, Big Ebanga are widely used for preparation of banana chips. Good quality masala chips can be produced using Grand Naine and Popoulu varieties. For making jaggery coated banana chips, Chengalikodan, Attunendran and Myndoli are the best ones.
Sarkkara varatty:Fried slices of banana of convenient thickness are coated with melted jaggery and powdered mixture of cardamom, dry ginger and sugar.
Raw banana flour and flour based products: In green stage, banana stands out for having a high starch/ resistant starch content, deserving industrial interest for developing new product. Moreover, it has a wide range of vitamins and minerals present in both pulp and peels. Flour, the main product of green banana, is one of the most common forms of preserving bananas. It is widely used in infant feeding as a source of energy and also has excellent medicinal properties. Usually the variety Kunnan is used to make baby food. Powder of Nendran variety can also be given as baby food. Now a days raw banana powder is an ingredient for different functional and convenience foods like cookies, cakes, bread, sponge cake, soup mix, pudding mix, health mix and ice cream. Daily food items like idiyappam, paniyaram, murukku, pakoda, gulab jamun, chappathi etc. can also be made by mixing with raw banana powder.
Nutritive value of kunnan powder
Total carbohydrate : 89g/100g
Protein : 2g/100g
Fat : 1.7%
Total acidity : 0.64%
Ascorbic acid : 3.85mg/100g
Total mineral content : 3.21%
Total sugar : 1.6%
Energy : 379.3 kcal
Banana cookies: Banana cookies are made by mixing banana flour (1kg), sugar powder (250g), ghee (100g), baking powder (10g), milk powder (50g), custard powder(25g), bis cream (250g), Nescafe (10g) and essence (10ml) in a blender and made into a creamy dough. Then shaping of dough into cookies are done and baked in an oven.
Nutritive value:
Total carbohydrate : 53g/100g
Protein : 2.8g/100g
Fat : 22.4%
Total acidity : 0.38%
Ascorbic acid : 11.54 mg/100g
Total mineral content : 1.33%
Total sugar : 21.9%
Energy : 424.8 kcal
Banana cake (plum) : Banana cake is prepared by mixing banana flour, egg, ghee, milk maid, margarine, spice powder, essence and caramel colour using a mixer. Batter is poured to cake moulds and baked in an oven.
Diversified products from ripe banana
Banana jam
Jam is prepared by mixing equal quantity of banana pulp and sugar. Pectin present in the fruit gives it a good set. Appropriate combination of pectin, sugar and acid is essential to give a proper set to the jam. Jam has a TSS (Total soluble solids) above 680 Brix
Pazham varatti. Prepared by concentrating the mixture of pulp and sugar (600g for 1 kg pulp). This can be further used for the preparation of jam and halwa.
Banana halwa:
Prepared by mixing banana pulp with sugar (1.25 times the weight of pulp), ghee and nuts and concentrating till the mass separate from the cooking dish.
Halwa can also be prepared with banana flour mixing with arrowroot flour (half the weight of banana flour) and jaggery (three times the weight of banana flour).
Banana payasam mix: Pour ghee to a heated cooking vessel. Add Nendran banana pulp and melted jaggery (750g for 1kg pulp) and mix well. Add ghee at regular intervals and cook until the pulp solidify without any moisture content. Add cardamom powder for flavor.
Banana cake
prepared by mixing banana pulp (165g), banana powder (100g), powdered sugar (200g), egg (3), caramel (80g), butter milk (60ml curd + 10ml water), lemon juice (1tsp), oil (200g), ghee (20g), vanilla essence (1tsp), baking soda (1/2tsp) and salt (a pinch). Bake the batter in an oven at 1700C for 50 minutes. To prepare cup cakes, bake the same batter in cup cake molds.
Fruit Juice
Clear banana juice could be extracted using commercial pectinase enzyme @ 5ml/ kg pulp and incubating for 4 hours at room temperature. Squash, crush, nectar, Ready-To -Serve beverages can be prepared using this juice.
Banana carbonated beverage (soda): Soda is prepared with 30% sweetened banana juice (150 ml) and carbonated water (90 ml containing 130 volumes CO2).
Ready-to-serve (RTS) beverage
RTS is a beverage prepared from clarified banana juice. 150g sugar is made into syrup by adding 250 ml water. Mix the sugar syrup with 20 ml of banana juice and make up to 1 liter RTS by adding water. Finally add a pinch of citric acid.
Banana pulp based ready to serve beverage and milk shake can also be prepared
Banana wine : Banana wine is a delicious beverage with low alcohol content. It is obtained by fermentation of clarified juice or cut pieces of banana with sugar, yeast and water.
Products from banana pseudostem
Pseudostem sweetened juice
For the preparation of pseudostem sweetened juice, remove the outer leaf sheath layers of pseudostem to get the hard edible inner core for juice extraction. Chop the pseudostem into round pieces by removing the fibre adhering to it. Blend it in a pulper and extract the juice. The juice must be kept for sedimentation. The upper clear juice is taken after removing the sediments. Add citric acid 5 g/litre to the juice and keep for one day at 6 – 80C. Siphon out the upper layer of clarified juice leaving the sediments. To 400 ml of clarified juice, add sugar syrup (350 g sugar dissolved in 250 ml water) and pasteurize by keeping in hot water.
Banana pseudostem pickle: For the preparation of pseudostem pickle, remove the outer sheath of the pseudostem and make it into round pieces. The thin fibre adhering to the pieces are to be removed and further chopped into small pieces. The pieces were then fried and made to pickle with a mixture of salt, oil, spices and vinegar.
Banana male bud (flower) pickle: The process involves removal of outer bracts and pistil, chopping, blanching and addition of salt, spices, vinegar and oil by frying
Banana rhizome pickle
Rhizome pickle is prepared by cutting rhizomes into small pieces after removing thin fibre adhering to them. After blanching the cut pieces in hot water, pickle is made by addition of salt, spices, vinegar and oil by frying.
Banana fibre
Banana is a major source of fibre. The entire leaf sheath of banana yields good quality fibre, which is highly valued in the market for its durability and strength. By extracting banana fibre, the waste can be effectively put to use and provide additional income to the farmers. Banana fibre is classified under leaf fibre as the it is extracted from leaf sheath otherwise called pseudostem. The middle seven to eight layers are utilized for commercial fibre extraction. The outer layers yield coarse fibre, while the fibre from inner layer is very soft. Nendran and Red banana shows highest fibre recovery percentage and Palayankodan and Kunnan shows longest fibre among different banana varieties.
Products from banana fibre: Different types of hand bags, purses, coasters, table mats, mobile phone holders, banana fibre net bag, CD holders, foot wear, flower vase, flower basket, ornaments, makeup box, letter box, curtains, key chains, belt, hat.
