NITK gets patent for making wine from cashew apple and raisins

Connoisseurs of alcoholic beverages might soon get to taste a new sort of wine made from the cashew apple. According to media reports, the faculty of NITK Surathkal has received a patent for the technology for producing wine from cashew apple and raisins.

NITK has received a patent titled ‘A process for the production of an alcoholic beverage from cashew apple and raisins and the alcoholic beverage produced thereof,’ a report in the DHNS said.

The report said that the technology is developed by Dr. Prasanna Belur Devarabhatta, associate professor in the department of chemical engineering. The patent application was filed in 2012 and was received on May 4, 2022.

“Cashew apples are a rich source of carbohydrates, minerals, vitamins, amino acids, carotenoids, phenolics, organic acids, and antioxidants and considered as a source of energy. The cashew apple is an excellent source of ascorbic acid (averaging 200-275 mg/100 ml of juice), which is about five to seven times that of orange juice. Several attempts were made in Brazil, India, Nigeria etc to find uses for cashew apple. However, most of them failed to meet the requirements of the consumer and hence failed to kick-off in the market so far,” Dr. Devarabhatta was quoted as saying in the report.

According to the report, making wine from cashew apples poses several challenges. For one, the cashew apple has high astringency, which gives it a sharp acidic, and unpleasant taste to the wine brewed from it. The presence of 2-methyl butanoic acid and related compounds gives it an unpleasant odor. Moreover, the chemical compounds in the cashew apple turn give the wine a brown color. Fruity flavor notes also rapidly grow faint during storage, affecting its quality over time, Dr. Devarabhatta said.

For these reasons, cashew apples are considered waste and are discarded, except for making Fenny in parts of Goa.

The technology adds raisins to overcome these challenges and can produce wine that is “translucent red/transparent colour with sweet, fruity, and with a characteristic of the cashew apple aroma… The characteristic astringency of the cashew apple is absent,” he said.

NITK is looking to license the technology to interested companies, the report adds.