A mature fruit / vegetable (or) its pieces impregnated with heavy sugar syrup till it becomes tender and transparent is known as preserve. FPO specifications for preserve is TSS – 68obx and fruit pulp – 55%.

Ingredients

• Prick with fork, needle or goose berry pricker.
• Steep in 2% salt solution for 24 hrs to remove astringency
• Wash and dip in 2% alum solution for 24 hours then wash thoroughly
• Blanch until soft but segments do not break or crack.

General considerations

• Cooking of amla directly in syrup causes shrinking of fruit and reduces absorption of sugar.
• Therefore, the fruit should be blanched first to make it soft enough to absorb water, before steeping in syrup.
• Fruits may be cooked in syrup by two processes as given below:

1)Rapid process

• Amla are cooked in a low sugar syrup. Boiling is continued with gentle heating until the syrup becomes sufficiently thick.
• Rapid boiling should, however be avoided as it makes the fruit tough, especially when heating is done in a large shallow pan with only a small quantity of syrup.
• The final concentration of sugar should not be less than 68% which corresponds to a boiling point of 106 .
• This is a simple and cheap process but the flavour and colour of the product are lost considerably during boiling.

2)Slow process

• The amla is blanched until it becomes soft.
• Sugar, equal to the weight of fruit, is then added to the fruit in alternate layers and the mixture allowed to stand for 24 hrs.
• During this period, the amla gives out water and the sugar goes into solution, resulting in a syrup containing 37-38% TSS.
• Next day, the syrup is boiled after removal of amla to raise its strength to about 60% TSS.
• A small quantity of citric acid (1 to 1.5 g/ kg sugar) is also added to invert a portion of the cane sugar and thus prevent crystallization.
• The whole mass is then boiled for 4-5 min. and kept for 24 hrs.
• On the third day, the strength of syrup is raised to about 65% TSS by boiling.
• The fruit is then left in the syrup for a day.
• Finally, the strength of the syrup is raised to 70% TSS and the amla are left in it for a week.
• The preserve is now ready and is packed in containers. This method is usually practiced. 

Method

• Preparation of sugar syrup (addition of 765g of sugar in 500ml of water)
• Addition of citric acid and KMS
• Soaking the fruit for 24hr
• Boiling of sugar syrup to 60 Bx
• Addition of remaining sugar
• Soaking for 24hr and increased the bx to 70 Bx for 7 days
• Amla pieces and sugar (1:1.5)
• Packed the amla preserve in glass jar
• Dried in shade to get amla candy

Ingredients 

Method

• Select well matured and sound amla fruits
• Wash and soak in 2 per cent brine for 24 hours
• Steam amla fruits for 10 minutes and cut into segments.
• Mix amla with the other ingredients and boil for 30 minutes.
• Separate the boiled amla candy and dry at 60°C for 5 hours in a mechanical drier.

AMLA JAM*

Ingredients

Ingredients

• Select matured, firm and fibreless aonla fruits and washed in cold water.
• The fruits are deseeded using aonla deseeder and sliced into small pieces with vegetable slicer.
• The desired spice combinations are weighed and mixed with aonla pieces.
• It is soaked for 48 hrs, mixed once or twice during curing.
• Aonla + lime + salt (aonla 100 g, lime juice 15 %, salt 5%)
• Aonla + ginger + salt (aonla 100 g, ginger 5 %, salt 5%)
• Aonla + pepper + salt (aonla 100 g, pepper 5 %, salt 5%)
• Aonla+ lime + ginger + salt (aonla 100g, lime juice 15%, ginger 5%, salt 5%)
• Aonla + lime + pepper +salt (aonla 100 g, lime juice 15%, pepper 5%, salt 5%)
• Aonla + pepper + ginger + salt (aonla 100 g, pepper and ginger 5%, salt  5%)
• Aonla + pepper + ginger + lime + salt (aonla 100 g, pepper 3%, ginger   3%, lime juice 15, salt 5%)

TECHNOLOGIES AVAILABLE

*    - Post Harvest Technology Centre, TNAU, Coimbatore.
**  - Home Science College and Research Institute, TNAU, Madurai.