Syzygium cumini

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Nutraceutical Properties of Jamun (Syzygium cumini L.) and its Processed Products Tanmay Kumar Koley1*, Kalyan Barman2 and Ram Asrey2 1

Division of Crop Production, Indian Institute of Vegetable Research, Varanasi 2 Division of Post Harvest Technology, Indian Agricultural Research Institute, New Delhi 110012, India *E-mail: [email protected]

Abstract Jamun (Syzygium cumini L.) is a minor fruit of Indian origin. The harvesting span of jamun fruit is very short (30 to 40 days) during monsoon months. Major chunk of fruits are lost as a littering waste beneath the trees. Jamun production in India is unorgani zed and scattered one and there is huge loss of this fruit every year. Compared to other popular fruits like sapota, papaya, banana and guava, jamun have higher level of antioxidant activity. The higher antioxidant activity in the fruit is attributed due to presence of antioxidant vitamins, tannin and anthocyanins. Jamun fruit is universally accepted to be very good for medicinal purposes especially for curing diabetes because of its effect on pancreas. Both, fruit and seed contain glucoside jamboline and ellagic acid which are reported to have the ability to check the conversion of starch into sugar in case of excess presence of blood sugar. There are some indications that this neglected fruit may be processed into various products for its gainful utilization by poor rural masses and health prone metro population.

Introduction Jamun (Syzygium cumini L.) is an indigenous minor fruit of India. According to Hindu tradition Lord Rama subsisted in this fruit in the forest for 15 years during his exile from Ayodhya. Because of the above mention episode, many Hindu regard jamun as ‘fruit of the god’ especially in Gujarat. The tall evergreen trees are grown for the shade and windbreak on roadsides and avenues. The tree produces large quantity of fruit during May to July. The fruit is oblong, ovoid starts greening and

turns pink to shining crimson black as it matures. A variant of the tree produces white coloured fruit. Ripe fruits are consumed fresh with salt or processed into refreshing drink for hot summer. It is native to Indian subcontinent. Jamun is so exclusive to the Indian Subcontinent and so widespread across the Indian Subcontinent that one of the old names of India (or the Indian region) is called Jambu-Dvipa (literally, Island of Jamun fruit). Jamun have spread overseas from India by Indian emigrant and presently common in former tropical British colony. The availability of jamun fruit is only for 30 to 40 days during monsoon months. Most of the fruits lost as a littering waste beneath the trees. The jamun cultivation is unorganised one and there is huge loss of this fruit every year. The perishable nature of the fruit makes its postharvest management further difficult. There are some indications that this precious fruit may be processed into various products for its gainful utilisation by poor rural masses and health prone metro population

Medicinal Importance Jamun fruit is universally accepted to be very good for medicinal purpose especially for curing diabetes because of it effect on pancreas. The fruit and seed contain glucoside jamboline and ellagic acid which are reported to have the ability to check the conversion of starch into sugar in case of excess production of sugar. The other nutraceutical constituents of fruit are resin, albumen, gallic acid, essential oil and tannic acid. Besides that, jamun fruit is also an effective food remedy for bleeding piles and liver disorder. It can also prevent diarrhoea, pharyngitis and splenopathy. Processed products like jambolan viniger can be administered in case of enlarged spleen, chronic diarrhoea and urine retention. Seed is used in various alternative systems of medicine like Ayurveda, Unani and Chinese system of medicine. Barks and leaves of this plant also have various medicinal properties like control of blood pressure, gingivitis etc.

Nutritional importance Jamun fruit contain fair amount of mineral (Ca, K), vitamin (B-complex, vitamin C), free sugar (glucose, Indian Food Industry

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mannose, sucrose) and amino acid (alanine, arginine, Aspergine etc). Purple colour of fruit is due to anthocyanin pigment. The major anthocyanins are delphinidin and petunidin. Malvidine, peonidin and cyanidin are also present in small proportion. Twenty nine compounds have been identified representing more than 99% of the volatile mixture, among them cis-ocimene (29.95%) and transocimene (23.03%) are major. Three esters, dihydrocarvyl acetate, geranyl butyrate and terpinyl valerate are identified and may be responsible for the characteristic flavour of the jamun fruit. Astringency of the fruit is due to presence of phenolic compounds (215 mg/100g). Jamun have significant antioxidant activity compared to nonanthocyanin fruit such as sapota, papaya, banana and guava. The antioxidant activity is attributed due to presence of antioxidant vitamins, tannin and anthocyanins.

Jamun Juice Jamun fruit Washing Grating Heating the pulp at 60°C Juice extraction through basket press Straining Heating of juice at 85°C Addition of Sodium benzoate

Harvesting Jamun is a non-climacteric fruit. Hence quality of fruit can not be improved after harvesting. For this reason fruits are allowed to ripen on the tree. The fruits ripen in the month of May-July or with the onset of rain. At ripening, colour of fruit changes from green to deep purple or black. Fruit should be harvested as soon as they ripe because they start dropping to the ground immediate after ripening. These are often picked from ground but the fruits are generally infected with soil borne microorganisms. Since most of the fruits are damaged due to impact injury once hit the ground, the common method of harvesting of jamun is shake the tree and collect the fruits by holding as piece of cloth or canvas under the tree. Harvesting is also done by climbing on the tree and collecting fruits in a cloth bag on the shoulder of picker. Jamun fruits are generally harvested daily and send to market on the same day as they cannot be kept for long time.

Bottling Storage

Jamun Squash Jamun fruit Washing Cutting and removal of seed Juice extraction Straining

Handling of fresh fruit Jamun is highly perishable fruit. They cannot be stored for more than 2 days under ambient condition. Precooled fruit packed in perforated polyethylene bag can be stored up to 3 week at 8-10°C with 85-90% RH. Before packing, blemished fruit should be sorted out. Fruits are normally packed in bamboo basket and transported to local market. Very high quality fruits are packed in paper basket for long distance transportation. Fruits are pre-packed in leaf-cup cover with perforated polyethylene bag have little or no damage during handling. Handling of fruit from market to home is also easier in this container.

Jamun fruits are processed in to different fermented and non-fermented beverages. Besides that, good quality jelly, jam, leather can be prepared. Procedures of preparation of different product are given bellow. Indian Food Industry

Preparation of syrup (1.8 kg sugar + 1 L water + 15 g citric acid) Straining of syrup Mixing with juice Addition of sodium benzoate (3.0 g/L squash) Bottling

Processing

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Juice measuring

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Capping Storage

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Jamun RTS

Jamun Jelly

Jamun fruit pulp Jamun fruit Mixed with strained syrup solution Washing and cleaning by tap water Homogenization Stored under -18°C Bottling Remove from store, thawing Crown corking Separate the seed from the fruit Pasteurization (at 85°C for 20 min) Cooling Storage

Jamun Jam

Crushed and homogenize the fruit pulp with water (7 : 3 ratio) in a Mixture-cum- Grinder Adjust pH 3.4 (use citric acid) Add and mix sugar with pulp (4:6 ratio); (Sugar > sucrose and glucose ratio 8:2); add 1 % pectine

Jamun fruit Cooking up to 67 ° brix Washing Filling hot in sterilized bottle Cutting, remove seed Waxing Pulping Capping Addition of sugar (raise the Brix up to 69°) Storage at ambient temperature Boiling

Jamun Leather Jamun fruit

Addition of citric acid Judging of end point Filling hot in to sterilized bottle

Washing and cleaning by tap water Separate seed from the fruit Pulping Store at -18°C

Cooling Waxing

Mixing and blending with sugar Add sodium benzoate Spread over stainless steel with thickness 1/8"

Capping Storage

Dry up to 15 % moisture level Cut in to pieces Pack and seal Store at 12-15°C Indian Food Industry

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Jamun Wine Jamun fruit Washing by tap water and dip in 5% NaCl salt solution for 72 hour Separate the seed from the fruit Crush fruit pulp with water (1:1 ratio) in a Mixturecum-grinder Pressing and extraction of the juice;add sodium metabisulphite (100 µg ml-1) Adjust TSS to 17 °Brix with cane sugar Acidify the must to pH 4.5 using 1N acetic acid Inoculate with wine yeast starter culture(use 28-48 hour old starter culture at 2% v/v) Fermentation (at 32 ± 2°C for 6 days) Racking and decantation(First racking when Brix reaches 2-3°. Two to three more racking at 15 days intervals if sedimentation persists) Clarification (add 0.04% bentonite)

Conclusion Jamun is lesser known underutilized fruit of India. It has immense nutritional and medicinal properties known to rural folk since time immemorial. Jamun fruits and seeds are used to cure diabetes mellitus and other cardiac ailments. In recent past, horticulturists have tried to systematize the cultivation of jamun in the states like Goa, Karnataka, Maharashtra and Andhra Pradesh. Jamun fruit is very soft and perishable in nature, the harvesting and post harvest handling know how is also lacking at producers and consumers level. Some institutions like Indian Agricultural Research Institute, New Delhi and Konkan Krishi Vidyapith, Dapoli, Maharashtra have initiated some work on post harvest management and processing techniques of jamun fruits. The juice colour of jamun is more thermostable in comparison to other coloured fruit juices. So, there is immense potential to develop varied processed product of jamun fruit without much losing its medicinal properties.

References Benherlal, P.S. and Arumughan, C. (2007). Chemical composition and in vitro antioxidant studies on Syzygium cumini fruit. Journal of the Science of Food and Agriculture. 87: 2560-2569. Bopp, A., De Bona, K.S., Bellé, L.P., Moresco, R.N. and Moretto, M.B. (2009). Syzygium cumini inhibits adenosine deaminase activity and reduces glucose levels in hyperglycemic patients. Fundamental & Clinical Pharmacology. 23: 501-507.

Final racking

Chowdhury, P. and Ray, R.C. (2007). Fermentation of jamun (Syzgium cumini L.) fruits to form red wine. ASEAN Food Journal 14: 15-23.

Bottling and corking. (Add 100 µg ml-1 sodium metabisulphite. Fill in bottle full. Cork and seal the bottle with bees wax)

Khurdiya, D.S. and Roy, S.K. (2001). Processing of jamun fruit into a ready-to-serve beverage. Journal of Food Science and Technology. 22: 27-30.

Wine

Ramanjaneya, K.H. (1985). Studies on some aspects of jamun and its processing. Ph.D. Thesis. IARI, New Delhi.

Storage During storage, colour of the product degrades rapidly due to loss of anthocyanin and lutein pigment. However the extent of loss of anthocyanin pigment depends upon product. Maximum retention of colour is observed in jam compared to beverage drink. In general, jamun product can be stored up to 6-8 months in colourless glass bottle and up to 12 months under cold storage condition.

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Vijayanand, P., Rao, L.J.M. and Narasimham, P. (2001). Volatile flavour components of jamun fruit (Syzygium cumini L). Flavour and Fragrance Journal 16: 47-49.

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