Departments - Plantation Products, Spices and Flavour Technology

The centre came into existence in 1964 with the name Spices and Flavour Technology Department, but by virtue of the growing depth and diversity of its activities around raw materials, it earned its present, aptly extended name as Department of Plantation Products, Spices and Flavour Technology in 1995.

The departmental sustained R&D efforts for close to 4 decades have led to,

- Many methods for enhancement of quality and storage life of
produce.
- Better understanding of the basic chemistry of food flavours
- New product standards and analytical techniques.
- Processing technologies for manufacturing many value-added,
export-oriented and new products.
- Chemical synthesis of food flavourants.

The process for the cola flavour concentrate Double Seven created history in the late 1970s, by pitchforking India into the soft drinks world, with its own production technology and freeing the domestic soft drinks market from dependence on imports. This technology as well as our technologies for spice oils and oleoresins, have created country-wide impact in India, and contributed substantially to the development of our indigenous spice and beverage industries, while reinforcing our foreign exchange reserves.

Technologies Developed/Transferred
Spices

- Spice oils-pepper, ginger, turmeric, cardamom.
- Spice oleoresins-pepper, ginger, turmeric, chillies.
- Enriched spice oleoresins-curcumin and piperine.
- Pepper products-white pepper, dehydrated green pepper, sterilized
   black pepper.
- Turmeric-curing and polishing.
- Ginger-dehydration and bleaching, ginger paste, fresh ginger
   products.
- Cardamom- fixation of green colour for small cardamom and
   processing of large cardamom.
- Garlic-garlic paste and flavour-enriched garlic powder.
- Compounded asafoetida, Kokum concentrate, tamarind concentrate
   and powder, spice mixes, curry slabs.

Coffee, Tea, Cocoa, Cocoa, Cashew And Arecanut.

- Coffee-monsooning of cherry coffee, coffee concentrate, carbonated
   coffee, flavoured coffee, decaffeinated coffee, improved coffee filter,
   ballooning technique for storage for coffee beans.
- Tea-flavoured tea, instant tea, decaffeinated tea.
- Cocoa-curing of cocoa beans, refined cocoa mass, cocoa butter,
   cocoa powder.
- Cashew kernels- processing and storage.
- Arecanut-drying and storage.

Natural Food Colours

- Grape (pink), beet (red), Kokum (red), safflower (yellow), turmeric
   (yellow), chilli (red), annatto (orange).

Natural Flavours and Formulations

- Soft drink concentrate-cola, orange and lemon.
- Encapsulated flavours and flavoured flan.
- Citrus oils-deterpination, fortification.

Synthetic Flavourants

Aroma chemicals from terpenic hydrocarbons such as Terpinolene, alpha-Terpineol, alpha-Terpinene, alpha-Terpenethiol, 4-Terpineol, trans-beta-Terpineol, Limonene, Dipentene and novel Terpinyl esters and ethers; Carvone, Carveol, Carvyl Acetate and novel Carvyl esters;, 1-and 3-Dioxolans from Terpinolene Oxide, 1-Methanol and its ethers and esters, Dimethyl Phenyl Carbinol and Acetate; and Aleuritic Acid (from seed lac).

Basic Chemistry

- Chemical composition of essential oils from spices, herbs and
   aromatic plants.
- n-Triacontanol-a natural plant growth promoter from sugarcane press
   mud or tea waste
- Organic synthesis of,
   - Nucleophilic substitution of SNI-active halides using zinc salts-a
      method for functional group preparations.
   - Chemistry of epoxides-reaction with alkali metals, reductions, and rearrangements.

Completed R&D Projects

Some of our important completed projects concerned,

- Value-added products from coffee.
- Roasted and ground chicory as coffee adjunct.
- Fingerprinting of teas of different geographical origin.
- Use of anti-caking agents in spice powders.
- Enriched spice (turmeric and pepper) oleoresins.
- Diversified uses of cardamom.
- Utilisation of fresh ginger from North-east India for making various
   products.
- Screening of different regional varieties of garlic for product
   development.
- Production of conditioning agents in spice powders.
- Processing and preservation of herbs and extraction of active
   constituents.
- Application of intense sweeteners in the manufacture of cola
   beverages.
- Establishment of spice/Masala powder units.
- Commissioning of spice oleoresin plants.
- Custom-synthesis of alpha-Terpenethiol.

Academic and Technical Services

- New product development.
- Custom synthesis of flavourants and aroma chemicals.
- Process optimisation and shelf-life studies.
- Application and stability of additives in processed foods.
- Analytical testing service for the food industry.
- Calibration of Kappa moisture meter (widely used for determination
   of the moisture content of green coffee beans) for coffee curers and
   coffee estates.
- Conducting short-term programmes in the areas of Processing of
   Spices and Quality Control, Technologies for Soft Beverages, Food
   Flavours and Colours with Applications in Food Formulations and
   Instrumental Techniques in Flavour Research- for individual
   entrepreneurs as well as organisations and industries.
- Involving in societal missions and rural development programmes.