STUDY ON BEVERAGE PROCESSING FROM MEDICINAL HERBS

Abstract

Nowadays, the market of beverages is various. However, beverages from medicinal herbs are short-supplied. In Vietnam, there are a lot of varieties of medicinal herbs with different functions such as quenching thirst, bettering eyesight, intensifying the body resistance and the secretion of the gallblader, improving the functions of the liver and blood... This paper focusses on the beverage processing from some popular medicinal herbs in South Vietnam such as Eleusine indica (L.) Geartn., Morus alba L., Pandanus amaryllifolius Roxb. (P. odorus Ridl.), Saccharum sinensis Roxb. and Zea mays L. At first, the extraction from raw material mixture was studied. The optimal parameters were as follows: raw material and water ratio - 1:8, extraction temperature and time - 75°C and 40 minutes. It shows that the extract contained saponin, polyphenols, organic acids, microelements, reducing compounds... Then, the selection of mixing formula for the beverage was studied and the pasteurization was optimized in order to increase the preservation time of the finished product. Finally, a technological schema for beverage - making from the medicinal herbs was proposed.