This summer cool off with banana juice

CHANDIGARH: If the talk of fresh juices conjures up images of traditional fruits like apple, orange or leechi in your mind, you need to think again.
The seedless iron rich banana may just be waiting to top the list of preferences soon.
Researchers at the Bhabha Atomic Research Centre (BARC), Mumbai, after putting in intensive research and experimentation for last three years, have come out with ‘banana juice''--- without its pulp but just a dilute sugary liquid, which the researchers are thinking of further diluting as ‘‘the taste is too sweet.''''
The experimentation is already perfected at the laboratory stage and the BARC has procured the patent for the banana juice.But the product would need large scale production to become a mass product and the centre is looking for entrepreneurs to whom the technology can be transferred to reach the common man.
Describing the process of extracting juice from banana at the inaugural session of the three-day symposium at Panjab University on Tuesday, the BARC head (media relations and public awareness) Dr R K Sharma said, ‘‘The pulp of the fruit is first mashed, kept under special conditions for two days and put into the centrifuge machine. Enzymes are added and the cells are broken down in the process. So after the wait of two days, the pulp is separated and the juice is obtained.''''
Sharma''s core area was to popularise the ‘‘spin off technologies of the BARC'''' which are primarily for the common people''s advantage. However, the visiting scientists from the BARC are not revealing the detailed account of the process to keep their research under wraps, which would be sold off to the industry.
But one might ask if the large amount of banana pulp would go waste after the juice is extracted? The scientists suggest otherwise and say that it could be used as flour to make cookies and biscuits. ‘‘The students from a home science college successfully used the remaining pulp to make various bakery items,'''' said Dr Sharma. BARC Develops Product, Procures Patent