Icy Areca, the non-carbonated cool drink for this summer

Researcher comes up with non-carbonated cool drink from arecanut

March 22, 2018 01:07 am | Updated 10:29 am IST

Nivedan Nempe with his new invention ‘Icy Areca’

Nivedan Nempe with his new invention ‘Icy Areca’

Arecanut, an important ingredient of paan, has been put to use in a different way by a young entrepreneur from Shivamogga district, where the crop is grown extensively.

Nivedan Nempe has come up with a non-carbonated cool drink from arecanut. The trial of the product has been completed, and ‘Icy Areca’ was launched in the market on Tuesday. The Food Standards and Safety Authority of India has also approved it.

After completing B. Pharm course from Shivamogga, Mr. Nempe, who hails from a family of arecanut growers in Mandagadde village near here, pursued post-graduation in Manufacturing and Management Technology at Melbourne University. After returning to India, he undertook research on value addition to arecanut.

He had earlier released areca tea, which is currently being sold locally and exported abroad.

The annual production of arecanut in India is around 7.3 lakh tonnes, of which more than 63% is contributed by Karnataka. At present, arecanut is largely used for chewing. “As the area of cultivation of arecanut is increasing at a rapid pace, it is necessary to take up value-addition activities for the produce to maintain demand and ensure remunerative price,” said Mr. Nempe.

As a student of pharmacy, he started to work on phytochemistry of arecanut. The tannins were extracted from arecanut and converted into granules. Arecanut tea was made by adding some herbs available in the forests in Malnad region to these granules. It was released in the market in 2016 by Mystic Aromatics, an agriculture-based startup managed by Mr. Nempe. The product is sold in dip bags.

On the process of making a cool drink from arecanut, Mr. Nempe told The Hindu that arecanut tea granules were further brewed and processed in desirable temperatures. The liquid was filtered through eight stages and natural sugar was added to it. It is a ready-to-drink product available in lemon and chocolate flavours, he said.

Arecanut tea is being exported to The Netherlands, Latvia, and Russia. The product was honoured with the ‘Best Agriculture Food Startup’ award of 2018 by the Indian Council of Food and Agriculture.

0 / 0
Sign in to unlock member-only benefits!
  • Access 10 free stories every month
  • Save stories to read later
  • Access to comment on every story
  • Sign-up/manage your newsletter subscriptions with a single click
  • Get notified by email for early access to discounts & offers on our products
Sign in

Comments

Comments have to be in English, and in full sentences. They cannot be abusive or personal. Please abide by our community guidelines for posting your comments.

We have migrated to a new commenting platform. If you are already a registered user of The Hindu and logged in, you may continue to engage with our articles. If you do not have an account please register and login to post comments. Users can access their older comments by logging into their accounts on Vuukle.