client
Millet Enriched Fruit Jam
Our Role
We redefined fast-casual loyalty
Today’s Task
What We did Today?
Event: Clean Label Fermented Fruit Jam – Formulation of Millet-Enriched JamToday’s task was to formulate a novel clean-label fruit jam prototype by incorporating millet fractions into natural fruit concentrates—an approach that has not been widely attempted at either academic or commercial scale. Millets, being rich in protein, dietary fibre, vitamins, minerals, antioxidants, and other bioactive compounds, were hypothesized to function as nutritional fortifiers within the jam matrix, thereby enhancing its nutritional profile, textural integrity, and functional appeal. The development emphasized minimal processing, natural colorants, and flavor retention while targeting consumer acceptability, clean-label compliance, and sustainable food innovation. This first-of-its-kind formulation represents an integration of traditional cereal grains into modern functional fruit spreads, offering both scientific novelty and global relevance.
How I Felt Before Starting – Developing a naturally flavoured prebiotic drink
🧪 What We Did Today
Product Development Plan – Formulation of Millet-Enriched Jam
The task required:
- Precise hydrocolloid management to prevent syneresis and textural breakdown.
- Mitigation of millet-derived off-notes while retaining fruit-dominant aroma.
- Minimal processing strategies to preserve clean-label claims and natural nutrient retention.
This makes the research both scientifically exciting and technically demanding, but also an opportunity to demonstrate the future of functional cereal-fruit fusion foods.
Key Steps Followed Today:
- Fruit Base Analysis: Natural concentrates (mango, guava, and mixed berry) standardized for °Brix, titratable acidity, pH, and antioxidant activity.
- Millets Screened: Sorghum, finger millet, foxtail millet, little millet, and kodo millet.
- Rationale: Selected based on synergistic sensory pairing and nutritional enrichment capacity.
- Fruit Concentrates: Extracted via food-grade green solvents, standardized to 65 °Brix.
- Millet Pretreatment:
- Cleaning → soaking (12 h) → enzymatic hydrolysis (phytase, amylase) to reduce anti-nutritional compounds.
- Milling to fine slurry (<50 µm) to minimize grainy perception in the final jam.
- Matrix Composition: Fruit pulp : millet slurry tested at 95:5, 90:10, and 80:20 (w/w).
- Sweetening System: Stevia + fructooligosaccharides, enabling low-glycemic, diabetic-friendly formulation.
- Hydrocolloids: Low-methoxyl pectin + guar gum for gel strength, viscosity, and spreadability.
- pH Adjustment: Controlled at 3.2 ± 0.1 for microbial stability and gel formation efficiency.
- Pasteurization: 82 °C, 12 min.
- Evaluation Metrics:
- Nutrient retention (Vitamin C, total phenolics),
- Color stability (ΔE values),
- Flavor retention (volatile analysis via GC-MS planned for next trials).
- Conditions: Stored at 25 °C and 4 °C for 60 days.
- Parameters Assessed:
- Physicochemical: °Brix, pH drift, water activity, syneresis.
- Microbial: TPC, yeast, and mold counts.
- Rheological: G’, G’’, spreadability index.
- Sensory: Hedonic scoring (n=15 panelists) for color, aroma, sweetness balance, texture, and aftertaste.
📚 What I Learned?
Observations & Learnings
- Novel Stabilizer Interaction: Millet starch granules acted as functional fillers, enhancing gel rigidity at 10% inclusion but introducing graininess above 15%.
- Nutritional Synergy: Finger millet formulations showed notable calcium and iron enrichment with minimal impact on flavor.
- Consumer Perception: Despite millet inclusion, fruit flavor dominance was retained, confirming potential market acceptability.
Outcome
- Nutritional Profile: Fibre ↑ 20–25%, Calcium ↑ 30–40%, Iron ↑ 25–35% (depending on millet type).
- Sensory Scores (9-point scale):
- Appearance: 8.1
- Flavor: 7.9
- Mouthfeel: 7.3 (slight graininess in high-millet prototypes)
- Overall acceptability: 7.8
- Shelf-Life: Stable for 45 days without microbial growth; minor syneresis at day 60.
✅ What Went Well?
- Mild Pasteurization: Preserved natural pigments and volatiles while ensuring microbial safety.
- World-First Millet-Fruit Fusion: Demonstrated feasibility of merging traditional grains with fruit jam matrices.
- Clean Label Compliance: Achieved without synthetic stabilizers, colors, or preservatives.
⚠️ What Could Be Improved
- Use of millet hydrolysates or extracts instead of slurry to improve texture smoothness.
- Advanced homogenization (high-pressure systems) to reduce particle aggregation.
- Wider sensory benchmarking against conventional premium fruit jams for market alignment.
This tasks demonstrates a first-of-its-kind innovation in functional foods: the incorporation of millet into fruit jam formulations. While highly challenging due to textural inconsistencies and hydrocolloid interactions, the research confirms that nutritionally enriched, diabetic-friendly, clean-label jams are feasible. This opens a pathway for new category development in sustainable fruit-cereal spreads with both health and commercial potential.
What made to choose FRL
We help you to comply with guidelines and attain certifications that you need.
What made
Choose
FRL
Project Code:24FRL-BEV-NPD 4577-01
Name:Mohammad Hassan
Project Code:24-FRL-FOD-NPD-2462-02
Name:Miral
Project Code: 24-FRL-FOD-NPD-3449-01
Name: Mehul Molir
Project Code: 24-FRL-BEV-REV-2878-01
Name: Esther
Project Code: 24-FRL-NPD-FTP-PMR-2660-02
Name: Harshad
Let’s create something Innovative and Delicious together
Food Research Lab strives for excellence in new Food, Beverage and Nutraceutical Product Research and Development by offering cutting edge scientific analysis and expertise.