Beverages and Appetisers

Introduction

A beverage is any material used as a drink for the purpose of relieving thirst and introducing fluid to the body, nourishing the body, and stimulating or soothing the individual.

Beverages may be classified according to their function in the body.

A variety of ingredients are used for beverages.

Milk: Important of all the liquid foods since it gives more nutritive value than any other food.

Eggs: May be used whole in egg nogs or hot broth.

Fruit and vegetables juices: These are refreshing nourishing easily digested.

Sweetening agents: Cane sugar, glucose and lactose may be used to sweeten beverages and to supply additional calories.

Flavouring agents: Vanilla, fruit flavourings, rose essence, spices like ginger nutmeg, cinnamon may be used.

Garnishing agents: Crushed ice, coloured ice, ice bags, thinly pared rinds of citrus fruit, pieces of pineapple, chopped nuts and spices may be used as garnishing agents.

Coffee

Coffee is an important beverage used all over the world.

Processing procedure

Coffee processing consists of removing the skin, pulp, parchment and silver screen.

Roasting

During roasting many physical and chemical changes occur, which develops pleasant aroma, flavour, brown colour and good taste.

Grinding

Roasted beans are ground to three sizes, namely, fine, medium and coarse. Coarse ground powder retains aroma and flavour better and longer than fine ground powder.

Coffee beverage

Coffee has no food value. The constituents that are of chief significance in the making of the beverage are caffeine, flavour substances and bitter substances. Several factors like water, temperature, material from which pot is made, agitation affects the quality of coffee.

Caffeine

It is an alkaloid substance producing the stimulating property.

Flavour

It is the sulphur compounds that are the main contributors to the flavour. The flavour substances are volatile.

Bitter substances

Polyphenol substances or tannins are hot water soluble. Hence longer the coffee is brewed, the greater will be the tannin content and the bitterness becomes pronounced.

Soluble coffee

Soluble coffee is a dried powdered water soluble solid made from very strong coffee brew. It is marketed as instant and is freeze dried coffee.

Iced coffee

A sparkling iced beverage that possess that maximum amount of flavour is made by pouring a freshly made strong coffee infusion over crushed ice in a glass.

Coffee tablets

Coffee is also marketed in the form of tablets. Ground coffee is mixed wit h chicory powder and the mixture pressed in a machine after the addition of a binding material such as glucose.

Decaffeinated coffee

By a chemical process most of the caffeine can be removed from the beans to give decaffeinated coffee which has good flavour.

Tea

Tea is a beverage prepared by pouring boiling water over dry processed leaves.different factors affects the quality of tea like soil in which plant is grown, climate, processing techniques used etc.

Percentage composition of tea leaves

Black tea

Various processing steps involved in the manufacture of black tea are withering, rolling, fermentation, drying, grading and packing.

Green tea

Here withering and fermentation are completely omitted. It is made by first steaming the leaves to prevent the leaves from changing colour and to inactivate the enzymes. Steaming is then followed by rolling and drying. The leaves retains much of its original green colour especially the finer leaves.

Oolong tea

Oolong tea is partially fermented. The fermentation period is too short to change the colour of the leaf completely. It is only partially blackened. The beverage is intermediate between those produced from green and black teas.

Characteristics of tea beverage

High quality tea beverage is clear and bright.
A flavour full cup of tea has a quality known as briskness but a subtle aroma.
The strength of the beverage determines whether the tea is mild or robust.
Green tea is a pale straw colour where as black tea is deep amber.
Some astringency is inherent in tea but green tea beverage is more astringent than black.

Cocoa and chocolate

Cocoa and chocolate are made by grinding the seeds of the pods of the cacao tree (Theobroma cacao) which is indigenous to Central America and is grown extensively in Brazil, West Indies and Srilanka.

Fermentation

The beans and the mucilage are scooped out and subjected to natural fermentation then they are piled in heaps in perforated wooden boxes for a period of 3-12 days depending on the type of the bean.

Curing

The fermented beans contain about 33% water. They are therefore dried to a moisture content of 5-8% in the sun or in hot air dryers. During this process the colour of the shell becomes dark brown.

Roasting

Roasting develops characteristic flavour and colour. It also causes change in the chemical structure of polyphenols producing less astringency compounds. The roasting also changes the colour to dark brown.

Grinding and Defatting

The roasted beans are cooled and gently crushed soon after, to fracture the husk and break down the kernels into their natural angular fragment or nibs. The roasted nibs are ground using stone mills to a fine paste or liquor. The heat produced during grinding causes the cacao fat to melt.

Chocolate

Chocolate contains more fat than beverage cocoa. There are many types of chocolates depending on the level of cocoa mass, added cocoa butter, sugar, milk and other ingredients.

Manufacture of Chocolate

Cocoa mass + sugar + cocoa butter + flavouring materials

Ground in a mill

Passed through steel rollers

Cocoa butter added

Mixture is conched

Velvety mass is obtained

Transferred to tanks and cooled

Moulded in desired shape

Fruit beverages

In India a little over 60% of fruit produced is used in fruit based beverages. There are different types of fruit beverages.

Fruit juice

This is a natural juice pressed out of a fresh fruit. This is unaltered in its composition during preparation and preservation. E.g. fresh juice and canned natural fruit juice.

Fruit squash

This is made from strained fruit juice, sugar and preservative. This contains 25% fruit juice, 45% sugar e.g. mango squash.

Fruit cordial

This is a fruit squash from which all suspended matter is completely eliminated and is perfectly clear. Clear juice can be prepared by completely removing all suspended material by filtration and clarification. Fruit juices may be clarified using pectic enzymes, tannin and gelatin. By centrifuging and filtering.

Fruit punch

Fruit punches are made by mixing the desired fruit juices. It contains 25% of fruit and 65% of sugar.

Fruit syrups

These are concentrations of fruit juices preserved with sugar. The fruit is crushed to a coarse puree and left overnight for fermentation. After heating the juice with sugar it transforms into syrup.

Carbonated fruit beverages

Carbonation adds to the life of a beverage and contributes in some measure to its tang.

Fruit juice beverages are generally bottled with carbon dioxide content varying from 1 to 8 g/litre. Another advantage of carbonation is the removal of air that results not only in anaerobic condition, but also reduces the oxidation of ascorbic acid.

Vegetable juices

Carrot and orange juices are extracted in a food processor. A pinch of salt improves the flavour. It should be served cold.

Lactic fermented juices

The vegetable or the fruit is mashed and inoculated with a particular lactic acid bacteria and the mash is allowed to ferment 2 to 3 days. It is then sieved and juice is extracted and store at room temperature.

Flavoured milk

Different colours and essences are added to milk e.g. rose milk.

Milk shake

Fruit pulp like banana can be added to milk to prepare banana milk shake. Other fruits like sapota or orange or mango can also be made into milk shakes.

Miltone

It is produced by CFTRI Mysore by blending equal parts of milk and an emulsion of protein from gorundnut.

Egg nog

Milk can be mixed with whole eggs or just egg yolks to make a nourishing drink with smooth creamy consistency.

Fermented milk

Milk is fermented with lactobacilli and curd is prepared.

Malted beverages

Malted beverages are also known as Amylase Rich Food (ARF). A small amount of any whole cereal grain (wheat or ragi) is steeped overnight in 2-3 times its volume of water. These grains are allowed to germinate and then sun dried, roasted. Sprouts are removed by hand aberration and grains are milled, powered. It is inexpensive. It is widely known and practised house hold technology.

Carbonated non alcoholic beverages

These beverages are generally sweetened, flavoured, acidified, coloured, artificially carbonated and sometimes chemically preserved. Several ingredients added to these, as sugar,flavouring and colouring agent,acid,water CO₂ etc.

Nira

Nira is a refreshing sweet drink and is also credited with medicinal value. The fresh sap of the palms. Called ‘sweet toddy’ or nira contains about 12% of sucrose and unless suitably treated, fermentation into toddy starts almost immediately after collection.

Barley water

Pearl barley is cooked at low fire for 10 minutes. It is strained and sweetened. Lemon juice is added and chilled. Instead of pearl barley, barley powder can also be used. Barley acts as thickening agent.

Sugarcane juice

Freshly expressed sugarcane juice with added lemon juice and ginger is commonly consumed India. It contains 90.2% moisture and 9% sugar.

Kokam juice

The fruit kokam is sour in taste. It has anthocyanin and hence the juice is attractive. It is sweetened with sugar.

Toddy

Toddy is a pale frothy liquid with characteristic aroma, and a slightly acid and pungent taste. It is an inexpensive and refreshing beverage.

Beer

The principal raw materials of beer manufacture are the cereal grains, particularly malted barley, rice and corn which supply carbohydrates for fermentation by saccharomyces yeast into alcohol and carbon dioxide.

Wine

As grapes mature the vine yeast Saccharomyces ellipsoideus naturally accumulates on the skins.

Ag.
Technologies
(Food Technology)