APRICOT (Prunus armeniaca) PROCESSING AND VALUE ADDITION
- 1. APRICOT (Prunus armeniaca) PROCESSING AND VALUE ADDITION Dr Jai Singh (ARS) M. Tech. Ph D Former Director ICAR – CIPHET Mob: 8958463808, R-Mail: jsingh.sre@gmail.com INTRODUCTION The apricot (Prunus armeniaca ) is a deciduous stone fruit having single seed covered by hard, thick seed coat ( shell ). The seed or kernel and the seed coat are called a pit or stone. In India most of the apricot is grown in Kashmir’s Ladakh region , are Kargil, Lahaul ,Spiti of Himachal Pradesh, Kumaon , Garhwal Hills in Uttar Pradesh. On a limited scale. it is also grown in North-Eastern Hills regions of Arunachal Pradesh, Nagaland, Meghalaya, Manipur and Sikkim. Low chilling cultivars are also grown north Indian plains. Apricot tree yields 30 – 40 kg fruit (500 number of fruits) and 12 - 22 tonnes ha. In addition to fruit flesh , apricot is processed for drying, canning, jam, juice, sauce, puree for baby food, wine, liquor, vinegar, sweets and numerous other food , nutritional, medicinal and industrial products. This presentation is based on the basis of available literature at different sources. Nutritional and Health Aspects: 100 grams of fresh apricots gives 48 calories, 1.40 grams protein, 0.39 grams fat, 11.12 grams carbs, 2 grams fibre, and 9.20 grams of sugar., 12% of
- 2. vitamin C, 12% of vitamin A, 6% of potassium , calcium, and antioxidants to get rid of toxins in body. It is good for diabetics, promote eye health, boost skin health, gut health, protects liver, treatmrnt of cancer symptoms, etc. APRICOT HARVESTING AND FRUIT PICKING TOOLS: Maturity - The exact yellowish-green color depends on the cultivar. Apricots should be picked when still firm because of their high bruising susceptibility when soft. Most apricot cultivars soften very fast making them very susceptible to bruising and subsequent decay leading to post harvest losses.. skin ground colour was a good indicator of physiological maturity . IMMATURE AND MATURED FRUIT FRUIT CATHER – TWISTER – COLLECTOR WITH TELISCOPIC HANDLE FRUIT CATHER – TWISTER – COLLECTOR BAG WITH TELISCOPIC HANDLE FRUIT CATHER – CUTTER – COLLECTOR BAG WITH TELISCOPIC HANDLE FRUIT CATHER – TWISTER – COLLECTOR FRUIT CATHER – TWISTER – COLLECTOR WITH HAND PICKING FROM GROUND OR FROM TREE USING LADDER
- 3. WITH TELISCOPIC HANDLE TELISCOPIC HANDLE PUTTING FRUIT IN FLEXIBLE PIPE MOUTH TO SLIDE DOWN GENTLY PICKING FRUIT FROM TREE USING LADDER FRUIT PICKING LADDER HARVEST FRUIT BY HAND TWISTING DROPPING FRUIT ON INVERTED UMBRELLA LIKE TENT FRUIT PICKING FRUIT PICKING HAND TOOLS PORTABLE IN – ORCHARD APRICOT GRADER APRICOT GRADER FRESH FRUIT PACKAGING FRESH FRUIT PACKAGING FRESH FRUIT PACKAGING PLASTIC CRATES FORFRESH FRUIT PACKAGING
- 4. APRICOT PITTING: Wash the fruit thoroughly. Take serrated knife and slice the fruit along seam. Then, twist the fruit open and gently pick the pit out of the fruit. Slice fruit along seam Twist fruit Pick up the pit APRICOT DRYING: Drying is the oldest form of preservation known to Ladakhis. Availability of abundant solar energy (ie, around 5400 Whr/m2 /day). It is dried as whole fruit or as slip pits (in which the stone is removed). To get a dried product with good golden yellow colour it is necessary to give the whole or half apricot pieces pre treatments like exposing to sulphur dioxide fumes or dipping in KMS solution. Such pre treatments help in checking brown discolouration of the product during drying and also during storage. Drying on ground, Solar Tent Drier and Improved solar drier takes 5 – 6, 3 – 5 and 2 – 3 days respectively. DRYING ON GROUND DRYING ON WIRE NET DRYING ON POLY COVERED CABS
- 5. DRYING IN TENT SOLAR DRIER SOLAR DRIER POLY SOLAR DRIER SOLAR HEATED AIR DRIER METALIC SOLAR DRIER POLY HOUSE DRIER TRADITIONAL DRYING IN LEH ICAR SOLAR TUNNEL DRIER ICAR OSMOTIC DEHYDRATION UNIT DRIED APRICOT GRADER
- 6. APRICOT PITS / STONE / SHELL BREAKING AND KERNEL SEPARATION : Apricot seed has a hard casing like almond. It is called pit or stone or shell. The kernel is inside the shell. The apricot kernel is the seed from inside the apricot stone. It is obtained by cracking open and removing the hard stone shell. The shell is crack opened by a nut cracker or machines. APRICOT SEED SHELL AND KERNEL APRICOT HARD SEED SHELL CRACKER VICE TO CRACK APRICOT SHELL APRICOT KERNEL SEPARATION KERNEL SEPARATION MACHINE APRICOT KERNEL SEPARATING MACHINE APRICOT SHELL CRACKING MACHINE APRICOT KERNEL SERATING MACHINE APRICOT KERNEL APRICOT KERNEL OIL EXTRACTION: Apricotkernel contains around 50 % crude oil. The oil extracted from the sweet kernel is used for edible purpose while that of bitter kernel has religious, cosmetic and medicinal values. The oil is popular as body oil
- 7. or massage oil, is known to relieve backache and joints ache. In traditional method the pits / stones / shells are softened by immersing in water for 15 – 20 minutes, kernel s are separated by stone beating, kernels are crushed in stone pestle and mortar, crushed kernels are ground on stones, ground mass is heated at hand – touch temperature , the paste is doughed by sprinkling little water and compressed against stone to ooze out oil. Now mostly mechanical expellers are in use. APRICOT GHANI OIL EXPELLER APRICOT GHANI OIL EXPELLER APRICOT GHANI OIL EXPELLER APRICOT KERNEL OIL APRICOT FLAVOR APRICOT COSMETICS APRICOT FOOD PRODUCTS: Apricot fruit is consumed in fresh, dried and frozen forms or used for preparation of jam, jellies, marmalades, pulp, juices, nectars, extruded and dried products as well as health and medicinal items. . There are hundreds of recipes. Apricot kernels are considered to be an excellent source of quality oil, being used for cooking purpose and production of cosmetic products,
- 8. DRIED APRICOT JAM FREEZE DRIED SLICES APRICOT KERNEL APRICOT SPREAD APRICOT TEA FRUIT POWDER APRICOT DESSERT APRICOT LEATHER DRIED WHOLE APRICOT APRICOT JUICE
- 9. APRICOT SOLUBLE FIBRE SWEETS APRICOT CANDY DRIED APRICOT SWEET APRICOT DESSERT CAKE APRICOT SWEET KERNELS KHUBANI KA MEETHA APRICOT SWEET APRICOT LADOO APRICOT TARTE TATIN APRICOT COCONUT ROTI APRICOT DRIED PRODUCTSS
- 10. APRICOT PULP APRICOT DRIED PUREE / PULP APRICOT ICE CREAM SUN DRIED APRICOT APRICOT JUICE APRICOT SQUASH SMALL SCALE APRICOT PROCESSING UNIT SMALL SCALE APRICOT PROCESSING UNIT THE END