DEVELOPMENT OF PROCESS TECHNOLOGY FOR PRODUCTION OF INSTANT MULBERRY TEA
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Date
2021-01-04
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Abstract
Mulberries are recognized botanically as Morus which is a species of blossoming plants in Moraceae family. The leaves of the mulberry plant are the prime source of food for the silkworm. It contains 9.96 per cent crude protein, 5.32 per cent total ash, 11.32 per cent fiber, 1.51 per cent crude fat, 13.42 per cent carbohydrate, 86 kcal/100 g energy and other functional components, mainly 1-DNJ (1-Deoxynojirimycin) which acts as an anti-diabetic drug. The mulberry leaves are used as a functional food, mostly in the form of herbal tea, juice or beverages. A study was undertaken to develop suitable processing technology for the production of instant mulberry tea. To select a suitable drying technology for drying of mulberry leaves, open sun (31 to 35 ºC), shade (21 to 25 ºC), tray (50 ºC), vacuum (45 ºC) and solar tunnel drying (55 ºC) methods were chosen. The drying time was 19.5 hours, 20 hours, 13.5 hours, 9 hours and 11 hours, respectively. Biochemical and colour properties of different dried leaves were evaluated. Shade drying is the best method for drying of mulberry leaves compared to other four drying methods because shade dried leaves retained all biochemical and colour properties similar to fresh leaves. Shade dried
leaves were grinded into powder in order to extract the bioactive compounds from it. Grinded powder was extracted by using super critical fluid extraction unit at a temperature of 50 ºC with 200 bar pressure. Extracted mulberry leaves mixed with correct proportion of maltodextrin (12 % w/v), tulsi leaves (5 ml), lemon and cardamom extract in spray drying. Finally, the spray dried powder was fed into fluidized bed dryer for the development of instant mulberry tea. The
optimized spray drying conditions based upon the physical and biochemical qualities of powder were inlet air temperature of 147 ºC and feed flow rate of 3 ml/min. The prepared instant mulberry tea under optimized conditions showed Hausner ratio of 1.09, Carr’s index of 9.35 percent, solubility of 97.51 per cent, moisture content of 2.29 per cent, protein content of 1.32 percent, fat content of 0.45 per cent and energy of 403.94 kcal/100 g.