Entrepreneurs for fruit wine technologies sought: Guyabano Wine, anyone?
Mike Banos
January 22, 2007
We have conducted pilot trials for guyabano, pineapple and Bengal currants, more commonly known as Karanda,” said food technologist Sylvia T. Aguhob, department chairperson of the XUCA Food Tech Department. “We have also conducted public taste tests for our products and received positive responses from the tasters.”
Guyabano, or soursop ( Annona muricata) is better known to Cebuano-speaking Mindanaoans as the abana, virtually the same name by which it’s known in its sister Spanish colony of Mexico as the huanaba.
Although cultivated commercially in some countries of Central and South America, West Africa, Asia and South Florida in the United States, Filipinos have generally taken abana for granted despite its deliciously tart, white edible pulp and high carbohydrate content and significant amounts of Vitamin C, Vitamin B1, Vitamin B2, Potassium and dietary fiber (but low in cholesterol, saturated fat and sodium).
Mix together the abana pulp, kalamansi juice and sugar in a blender with some ice or cold water and process till smooth and voila! A beverage cooler that’s not only delicious but healthy as well.
Besides being eaten raw as a fruit and health food, abana is also processed into candies, tarts, shakes, ice cream, sherbets and other beverages. It is also used in many rural areas as a medicinal plant as a antispasmodic, sudorific and emetic and its juice as a herbal remedy for urethritis, haematuria and liver ailments.
However, it’s so commonplace in Northern Mindanao that it’s not even monitored as a commercial fruit by the Bureau of Agricultural Statistics (BAS) since it is not utilized commercially except for powdered Guyabano juice which was developed and marketed by some Luzon based companies some time ago.
But Ms. Aguhob hopes to change that perception, at least in Cagayan de Oro and later maybe the entire Northern Mindanao with her “Sweet Guyabano Wine.” Response to the demo batch displayed at the Aggies booth during the Xavier Days last December was positive and she is confident it is ready for technology transfer. The pencil-pushing for its commercial production is now being undertaken by the XU Economics Department under Vennie Laroza.
Another fruit which the XUCA Food Lab has developed into a “sweet wine” is the pineapple. Although it has had more success as a commercial fruit than the abana, the pineapple is more popularly known hereabouts as fillers/extenders for various “Del Monte products” processed at its cannery in Bgy. Bugo rather than as wines.
Fresh and processed pineapple products by Del Monte have traditionally been one of the region’s top ten exports, although it is also extensively planted for the table in backyards and private farms of Northern Mindanao. The Department of Trade and Industry Region 10 office reports fresh and canned pineapples from the Del Monte plantation in Bukidnon and its cannery in Bugo, Cagayan de Oro was Nothern Mindanao’s fifth largest export for the (latest available data) third quarter last year in terms of value (US$ 22,602,179) after crude coconut oil, oleochemicals, cochin coconut oil and dessicated coconut.
In fact, pineapple as a fruit wine has already been developed and marketed in Hawaii by a private company as “Maui Blanc”. The Hawaiian pineapple wine is a non-vintage wine made from the juice of pineapples, produced and fermented in a similar manner as grape wines. The result is a soft, dry, fruity wine with an unmistakable pineapple bouquet.
Developed by Ms. Aguhob some three years ago, XUCA Food Dept.’s “Sweet Pineapple” wine has yet to be taken up for commercial production by a private investor, although the Jesuit community of XU has been enjoying it as a table wine for some time now.
More recently, Ms. Aguhob undertook the development of a sweet wine from the Bengal Currant, more popularly known hereabouts as the Karanda, or caramba, caranda, caraunda or perunkila in other places around the country.
Ms. Aguhob was constrained to develop the Karanda wine after their German consultant Mr. Lewke planted some 300 shrubs of the plant in the slopes of Manresa, the sprawling campus of the Xavier University College of Agriculture (XUCA) in Upper Carmen began to bear fruit.
The karanda is a small fruit resembling a purple grape, with a berry-like flavor which can usually be harvested from May to October. It is a rank-growing, straggly, woody, climbing shrub, usually growing to 10 or 15 ft (3-5 m) high, sometimes ascending to the tops of tall trees; and rich in white, gummy latex. It may have great potential as an intercrop in the Philippines since it has been observed to climb and thrive on fruit trees like mango and avocado.
The karanda is native and common throughout much of India, Myanmar and Malacca and dry areas of Sri Lanka and has been growing in Java and around Jakarta, Indonesia. The karanda first fruited in the Philippines in 1915 from seeds sent by the Middle Egypt Botanic Garden in 1912 and P.J. Wester (who sent the second and third batches of seeds) described it in 1918 as “one of the best small fruits introduced into the Philippines within recent years.”
Analyses made in India and the Philippines show ripe karanda has the following nutritional values: calories, 338-342/lb (745-753/kg); moisture, 83.17-83.24%; protein, 0.39-0.66%; fat, 2.57-4.63%; carbohydrate, 0.51-0.94%; sugar, 7.35-11.58%; fiber, 0.62-1.81%; ash, 0.66-0.78 %. Ascorbic acid content has been reported as 9-11 mg per 100 g. The karanda fruit and its leaves, roots, and bark also have many applications in herbal folkloric medicine.
Although initially developed by Ms. Aguhob as a jam, it did not pass the “taste test” among the XUCA’s resident club of tasters who found it rather flat. However, when Ms.Aguhob developed it as one of her sweet wines instead, it instantly found praise with the department’s resident connoisseurs who found its taste and color at par, if not better than ‘sweet red wines’ sold in groceries and supermarkets.
Entrepreneurs who are interested to undertake the commercial production of guyabano, pinapple or Karanda sweet wines may contact Ms. Sylvia T. Aguhob through her email address staguhob@yahoo.com.
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