A team at National Pingtung University of Science and Technology (NPUST) has developed a process that could help address excess regional fruit production and people’s fear of chemical compounds in tapioca jellies, such as those used in bubble tea.
The team used bananas to test the method, as team leader and NPUST food sciences professor Hsieh Pao-chuan (謝寶全) predicted a banana surplus, he said.
“I have always thought about how I could help farmers reduce their losses in times of surplus,” Hsieh said.
Photo: Chiu Chih-jou, Taipei Times
“We wanted to make fruit tapioca jellies, as those are popular at home and abroad,” he added.
Taiwanese consume about 1 billion cups of tapioca per year, Hsieh said, adding that the tapioca market has a global value or NT$1.5 trillion (US$49 billion).
However, most tapioca jellies on the market are laced with food additives, and many so-called brown sugar tapioca jellies are really made with caramel, he said.
The texture of tapioca is usually due to food additives, but the team’s fruit jellies use starch derivatives free of phosphorous pentoxide, he said, adding that they offer the same texture and flavor while doing away with the issue of excessive residual phosphate.
The team’s jellies could be frozen for up to two years and Hsieh is in talks with potential factories about selling the technology, he said.
Hsieh is known for his research on and production of soy sauce, of which the university store sells more than NT$10 million per year.
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