Fruits

Papaya processing

• Fresh consumption and processing

For long distance marketing, fruit should be harvested after the colour of blossom end has changed; but for local consumption pick up fruits at half way change in green colour. Size grade, treat with hot vapours of ethylene bromide to kill fruit fly, if required, wrap in newspapers and pack in boxes before shipping. For table use and processing, prefer papaya harvest at ¾ ripe stage indicated by 75 per cent colour change to yellow. Such wrapped fruits will ripen completely to total yellow colour at room temperature within 2-4 days. Fruit harvested at ¾ ripe stage will store successful at 70⁰C for 21 days. Ideal storage temperature is 13-16⁰C. Unripe fruits if stored at 12⁰C suffers from chilling injury. Fresh ripe papaya is consumed as `it is’ after peeling and slicing, often with added salt, spices, sugar or lime juice. It is preferred breakfast and dessert fruit. Papaya is quite nutritious having many therapeutic and medicinal uses. It is rich source of many vitamins and minerals. Use early drop unripe green papaya for the preparation of curried or dry vegetable, raita, burfey, pickle or chutney.

• Vegetable

Wash, peel, halve, remove seed, slice, rewash and cook like other. For large scale consumption of early fallen green fruits, supply them in bulk to community kitchens of hostels, dhabas, hotels, restaurants and langers of religious places for use as vegetable and raita.

• Raita

Boil grated pulp of peeled green papaya with equal amount of water. Press to squeeze out water. Mix curd with laddle. Add grated boiled pieces and mix. Mix edible salt and spices (cumin, black pepper, coriander, etc.) according to taste and serve.

• Drying

Prepare slices (6mm thick) after washing, peeling, cutting and removal of seeds. Sulphring of slices is done for 2 hrs by burning 3g sulphur/kg slices in a closed chamber. Dry in drier at 60-65⁰C with occasional turning or sundry. Pack in polyethylene bags.

• Papain

Unripe green but fully mature fruits are lanced with SS knife. Give four cuts at equal distance on single fruit. Collect latex in a suitable vessel of glass or porcelain. Latex hardens within 15 min. Sundry it as crude papain. To obtain high quality papain, precipitate it with alcohol followed by washing with acetone. Dry under sun or in an over or preferably under vacuum oven sulphuric acid at room temperature. Small amount of sodium sulphate may be added during latex collection to obtain better quality product. Extract pectin from the green fruits after collecting latex as papaya fruit contains 10 per cent pectin on dry weight basis.

• Pectin

Unripe green fruits otherwise unsuitable for product making or fruits after obtaining latex may be used for pectin extraction. Green papaya is rich in pectin containing 10% of it on dry weight basis. Pectin has extensive applications in food and medicinal industries. Pectin can also be extracted from peel waste of green papaya.

• Pulp

Pulp of fully mature and ripe papaya is used for the preparation of nectar and mixed ready-to serve beverages. Unripe fruits may be sorted out from the bulk lot and ripened at room temperature by keeping them wrapped in newspaper. Combine in the ratio of 1:1 pectin rich slightly unripe fruit with full ripe papaya having fully developed yellow colour and flavour for pectin requiring products such as chutney, sauce, jam and jelly. For pulping, fruits are thoroughly washed, peeled and halved with SS knives. Peeled halves are pulped with mechanical fruit crusher or home mixer. Filter or sieve the pulp to remove fibrous material. Use fresh pulp for the preparation of different products. However, for long distance marketing, pulp is usually concentrated, frozen or canned.

• Pickle

Blanch 1kg slices of peeled green papaya in boiling water for 3 minutes. Drain and sprinkle 100g salt and dry under shade. Mix spices i.e. 10 g each of the powdered red chillies, cardamon large, cumin and black pepper. Fill in jars. Cover with vinegar (>250 ml). Close with airtight lids. Curing will be completed within 2-3 weeks.

• Chutney

Cook 1kg of pulp of ripe firm peeled and grated papaya with chopped onion (100g) and 50g salt till soft. Add 50g ginger and 15g garlic after chopping and 10g each of the powdered aniseed, red chillies, cumin, large cardamon, cinnamon, black pepper, and 2g headless cloves. Cook gently to desired consistency. Add sugar (3/4kg). Cook again to thick consistency. Add vinegar (200ml) Cook for 5min. Fill hot into previously cleaned dry jars followed by capping.

• Sauce

Concentrate one Kg strained pulp containing 20g sugar to 1/3^rd of its original volume in the presence of suspended spice bag containing 50g chopped onion, 5g garlic and 50g ginger, 10g powdered spices and 5g red chillies. Press out spice bag occassionally and squeeze it out finally to obtain maximum spice extract. Add 15g salt and remaining 40g sugar and cook to thick consistency. Add 450ml vinegar and cook again to end point. Add and mix preservative after dissolving in minimum quantity of water. Heat to boiling and hot pack.

• Jam

Boil 1kg pulp of ripe firm peeled fruit with 100ml water and 3g citric acid. Add ¾kg sugar and cook to thick consistency. End point is confirmed by sheet test. Boiling mass is allowed to fall after cooking from a laddle which will flow in the form of a sheet. Pack hot in clean dry glass jars.

• Jelly

Mix 1kg grated pulp of fully mature peeled but somewhat raw fruits with ripe papaya pulp (1kg), 2.5 litre water and 10g citric acid. Boil for 30 min, cool and allow to settle for 2 hours. Separate the supernatant (upper layer) and filter it. Test for pectin quality. Formation of single clot with small quantity of ethyl alcohol added to test samples indicates high pectin content. Concentrate further, if necessary to obtain single clot. Cook gently the extract with equal quantity of sugar to obtain the end point indicated by the formation of sheet. Pack hot. Cover with a layer of melted wax and close the lid.

• Burfi

Boil the grated pulp of peeled green papaya for 5 min. Press out excess water. Fry in equal amount of desi ghee. Add sugar equal to the grated material. Mix and heat for 2 min. Spread it in the form of 1 to 2cm thick uniform layer on aluminium/steel tray smeared with fat. Allow to dry. Cut pieces of suitable size.

• Preserve and candy

Cut rectangular slices (4x1cm) or suitable sized cubes from the fully mature ripe washed peeled fruits after removing seeds. Prick with ss fort. Keep in 1.5 per cent limewater for 3-4 hours. Drain and wash 3-4 times in plain water. Dissolve 400g sugar in 600ml hot water and filter. Boil pieces in sugar syrup and keep overnight. Next day drain the syrup, raise its Brix to 50. Add slices, boil and keep again. Repeat this process every day, till Brix reaches 70-75. Keep for a week. Drain the syrup, fill the pieces in dry jars and cover slices with freshly prepared sugar syrup of 70⁰B.

For the preparation of candy, raise the Brix of syrup to 75⁰B, and keep it for a week. Drain and dry the pieces under shade. Dip pieces in boiling water to remove adhering sugars. Drain, dry and pack.

• Toffee

Concentrate one kg sieved pulp to 1/3^rd volume and cook with added sugar (600g), glucose (100g) and hydrogenated fat (100g) till a speck of the product put into water forms compact solid mass. Make thick paste of 100g skim milk powder in minimum quantity of water and mix with the boiling mass. Spread 1-2cm thick layer of the cooked mass over aluminum/SS trays smeared with fat. Add flavouring material at this stage, if necessary. Allow to cool. Cut and wrap in butter paper.

• Leather

Mix thoroughly powdered sugar (50-75g) citric acid (0.5g) and KMS (3g). Smear aluminum/steel tray with fat and spread the above mixture in 1cm thick layer. Dry in a home drier at 55-60⁰C. Roll the dry leathery product for storage as slab or cut it into pieces of suitable size.

• Canning

Cut slices (2.5 x 4cm) or cubes of suitable size from fully developed ripe firm washed, peeled fruits after removing seeds. Pack slices in plain cans. Cover with hot sugar syrup (33⁰Brix). Exhaust at 90⁰C for 5 min. Seam and process in boiling water. Cool, label and store.