More ‘instant’ foods ready for commercialization

More "instants" are here.

Instant kare-kare mix. Ready-to-serve pinakbet. Instant pochero mix. Instant sinigang mix. Ready-to-eat canned laing.

These convenience food items have been conceived and generated by the Department of Science and Technology-Food and Nutrition Research Institute (DOST-FNRI).

The instant products can be promoted as mainstream Filipino dishes in the export and local markets. Moreover, the value-added products increase farmers’ income, as more markets are found for their crops.

At present, DOST-FNRI is seeking research and investment and industry partners for the commercialization of the food technologies.

Kare-kare can be traced to the curry-eating Indians and Mexicans during the barter and galleon trades, which the Filipinos in those times further innovated on during the Spanish era as a fiesta food.

The new technology is about the preparation and packaging of kare-kare in an 800-gram can. Kare-kare mixes found in the market are only spices but this technology includes vegetables, spices, and sauces, except the meat.

Instant kare-kare mix is a vegetable combo of immature banana heart, stringbeans, eggplants, anatto food coloring, spices, and peanut sauce packed in 800-g can, which is good for four to five servings.

Pinakbet is a popular vegetable medley identified with the Ilocanos. The product has been improved to extend its shelf life up to one year, enabling it to be distributed to bigger markets.

Its unique competing bitter-salty taste can now be savored in the FNRI Instant Pinakbet, a blend of ampalaya, round eggplant, okra, squash, stringbeans, tomatoes, spices, and condiments. It is ready-to-eat or may be complemented with broiled shrimps or broiled fish.

"Instant pinakbet is undergoing a pilot commercial-scale production and under negotiation for transfer," FNRI reported.

Pochero, a traditional Sunday meal, evolved from the Spanish cocido, a delectable mixture of beef shank, chicken, salted pork, chorizo, banana, and vegetables.

FNRI Instant Pochero Mix is a bottled, ready-to-eat combination of cabbage, garbanzo, sweet potatoes, saba bananas, Baguio beans, spices, and seasoning in tomato sauce. It can readily be added to cooked beef, pork, or chicken.

Sinigang may well be the Philippine national stew, but literature points to Malay and Southeast Asian influence of preparing sour broth that cools in a hot tropical weather.

The FNRI technology is about the preparation of sinigang and making it readily available. The product has a shelf-life of one year.

Sinigang mixes found in the market are only spices for the soup but the FNRI product includes all vegetables (gabi or taro, stringbeans, kangkong, and radish in tamarind broth), spices, and meat.

Laing, a delicacy of the Bicol region, is an appetizing composition of shredded dried taro leaves and stalks, cooked in rich coconut cream with bits of meat or shrimps and laced with hot peppers.

The FNRI instant laing packed in a 225-gram can is ready-to-eat, and thus can be enjoyed anytime, anywhere.

The technology involves product reformulation in order to extend its shelf life up to one year. — Rudy A. Fernandez