COlonu'

wa'er as

players' drinkFresh coconut water contains large quantities of

vitamins and minerals but these nutritional values

quickly get lost through bacterial action. The

United Nations Food & Agriculture

Organization (F A0) has been granted a patent in the

UKfor technology for the production, purification and

bottling of coconut water as a sports drink. The patented

technology includes a pasteurization method that eliminates the bacteria without

losing taste and nutrition [FoodIngredAnal Intern, 2001, 23(1), 5].

Rapid detection of beetinvert sugar adulteration

in HoneyThe adulteration of honey with other sugar products is a common practice

and detection of adulterants is difficult. Adulteration of honey with a high

concentration of carbohydrates particularly invert syrup produced from sugar­cane and beet is more difficult. Manyanalytical methods have been used to detect

the adulteration of honey and most of them are time consuming and require skilledoperators. Recently a combination of Fourier Transform Infrared (FTIR)

spectroscopy and multivariate statistics as a screening tool for the determination

of beet medium invert sugar adulteration has been used. Honey samples with dif­ferent concentrations of beet invert sugar were scanned using the attenuated totalreflectance (ATR) accessory of the Bio-Rad FTS-6000 Fourier Transform

Spectrometer. The spectral wave number region between 950 and 1500/cm was

selected for partial least squares (PLS) regression to develop calibration modelsfor beet invert sugar determination in honey samples. Thus Fourier transform in­

frared spectroscopy could be used for rapid detection of beet invert sugaradulteration in different varieties of honey (Sivakesava & Irudayaraj, ] Sci FoodAgric, 2001, 81, 683).

A soluble

Agar-Agar

forconfectionery

Agar-Agar,a traditional

ingredient in various bakery/

confectionery products can only be

dissolved in boiling water. Therefore

for practical purposes one has to

keep an Agar-Agarsolution boiling.

To solve this problem a company

Setexam at Morocco has developed

Quick Soluble Agar (QSA®) througha physical modification of theproduction process. The random oil

structure of the Agar-Agarsolution is

maintained in the powder form

which considerably improves itsdissolving properties.

Quick Soluble Agar is fullysoluble at 800e and therefore, it is no

longer necessary to cook the

Agar-Agarsolution. The proportion ofQSA®/wateris 1:25 for hot water

preparations and 1:30 for cold

preparations. Practical advantages ofthis Agar in comparison to normal

Agar-Agarinclude: saving of energy

i.e. a cost-reducing effect and new

application possibilities for the users

[Karg,Food IngredAnal Intern,

2001,23 (4),20].

,

Natural Product Radiance, March-April 2002

Parsley, Petroselinumcrispum (Mill. )Airy-Shaw syn.Petroselinum sativum Hoffm. is used

in European cookery as a culinary garnish

or condiment, while in Middle East, it con­

stitutes the major ingredient in the famousMiddle Eastern salad "Tabbouleh". The

essential oil finds use in food

industry as an aroma component for meat,

sauces and liqueurs, and is usually moreconcentrated in the fruits (seeds) than in

leaves, stems or roots. The plant has beenused in folk medicine as a diuretic,

stomachic, an emmenagogue and

abortifacient. The herb is also used as hy­

potensive, laxative and in slimming teas.

The use

of parsley aslaxative in folk

medicine is

attributed to the

presence of somevolatile oils that

are more

concentrated in seeds. The advocated

physiological effect of parsley does not

have, however any proven

scientificbackground and relies mainlyon

simple observations and empirical

information. Kreydiyyehand others fromLebanon studied the laxative role of

Parsley.

A perfusion technique was used

to measure the net fluid absorption from

the rat colon. The addition of an aqueous

extract of parsley seeds to the perfusionbuffer, and the omission of sodium,

both reduced significantly net water

absorption from the colon, as

compared to the control. Parsleyadded to a sodium-free buffer did not

lead to any further significant change

in water absorption as compared to

parsley alone inferring that with

parsley sodium absorption was

already inhibited. The results suggest that

Parsley acts by inhibiting sodium and

consequently water absorption through an

inhibition of the Na+-K+ pump, and by

stimulating the NaKClztransporter andincreasing electrolyte and water secretion

[Kreydiyyehetal, Phytomedicine, 2001,8(5),382-88] ..

Improving the fastness of

Arelanul dyed lollonThe Arecanut (Areca catechu

Linn.) extract is used for dyeing cotton in

traditional practices. The scientists of

Textilesand Clothing,AICRP(CT), CollegeofRural Home Science, Dharwad, studied the

colour fastness properties of arecanut dyedcotton with different mordants.

Prior to dyeing the cotton skeins in

myrobalan extract and arecanuts (8%) were

soaked, separately, overnight. The arecanut

extract was taken by boiling the arecanut inwater for 60 minutes and its pH was changed

to alkaline by adding potassium hydroxide.

The dye extract was filtered and used for

dyeing.

The mordants selected were 5,

10 and 15% potash alum and 1, 2 and3 per cent of potassium dichromate,

copper sulphate and ferrous sulphate.

The mordanting time was 15 minutes.

Afterdyeingthe solution was allowed tocool completely; then the samples were

removed from dye bath and rinsed un­

der running water to remove the excess

dyeparticles present on the surface andshade dried and subjected to colour

fastness tests. It is ~oncluded that among

all the post mordanted samples, the

sample with 1 per cent potassiumdichromate and 10 per cent potash

alum gave good results in alkaline me­dia [Mahale et ai, Man-Made Textiles

India, 2001, 44 (6),243-246].

Natural Product Radiance, March-April 2002