INGREDIENT-FOOD TECHNOLOGY: DRINK OF FRUIT AND VEGETABLES, HEALTHY AND FRESH
e-Foodtech Future – Freshness of color and taste makes many people love it, but not a few are reluctant to consume it, especially vegetables, because the unpleasant aroma that some people do not like. Fruits and vegetables are food ingredients that are highly recommended in the daily menu. Even in Europe and various countries there is the slogan “five fruits and vegetables a day” to emphasize the importance of fruit and vegetable consumption.
Urban lifestyles that tend to be instantaneous make urban communities often do not have enough time to process and consume vegetables and fruit as recommended. Everything that is practically an option, ranging from instant noodles that have been ‘ingrained’, cereal drinks that claim to meet nutritional needs such as food, to instant cooking spices that are also easy to use. According to research from Nielsen on the middle class in Indonesia, 56% of consumers prioritize practicality when buying daily necessities, so consumption of ready to eat and ready to serve foods such as processed meat (nuggets and ready-to-eat sausages) also increases.
For vegetables and fruit, the last few years appeared beverage brands that claim to contain vegetable and fruit extracts, in the form of powder and liquid. In Indonesia, the trend of combining vegetables and fruits in drinks has only emerged in recent years, given our habits that tend to consume vegetables in the form of cooking. Unlike fruit that has long been known in the form of drinks, both fresh juice or fruit-flavored drinks, vegetables are not yet commonly processed as drinks because of their disturbing taste.
Kavadya Syska, Coordinator of the Food Technology Study Program, Faculty of Science and Technology, Nahdlatul Ulama University Purwokerto explained that drinks with the concept of fruit and vegetables are still limited in number in Indonesia, and some are imported products. From the results of evaluating the taste of various products, respondents still tend to like products with fruit flavor that is quite strong, compared to products that have strong vegetable flavor. This shows that taste is still a major consideration in choosing a product, even though its benefits for health are not in doubt.
Related to product development with this concept, these things need to be considered in making the right formulation by considering aspects of nutritional content as well as taste and aroma. The use of the right flavor is very important to increase consumer acceptance of the taste of the product, especially the flavor that can add to the impression of refreshing and masking (masking) aroma of vegetables that are not preferred.
Sources: interviews and references analysis
Food Technology, UNU Purwokerto: Creative, Innovative, Fantastic
Food Technology, UNU Purwokerto: Developing Creative and Innovative Future
