Tamarind leftovers yield appetising rewards

Pinphet food company of Phetchabun helped put together a research project to increase the use of tamarind seed products in cooperation with the Faculty of Agro-Industry, King Mongkut’s Institute of Technology Ladkrabang, and the industry division of the Thailand Research Fund (TRF). 
Their goal was to find uses for tamarind seeds in value-added products and processes to get beyond selling the seeds as raw material to foreign companies for only Bt2 to Bt3 per kilogramme. It was a natural fit, given that Phetchabun is a renowned location for high-quality sweet tamarind, officially registered for a geographical indication (GI) logo by the Department of Intellectual Property.
The region exports its products to markets all over the world. It guarantees the export of 28.3 million tonnes of sweet tamarind per year, valued at Bt1.17 billion, resulting in a huge amount of tamarind seeds that are leftover from tamarind processing.    
Pinphet is a leading manufacturer and distributor of sweet tamarind products in Thailand, in the form of sweet tamarind, wet tamarind with and without seeds such as tamarind balls, tamarind jam, preserved tamarind candy, and tamarind juice. This one company alone has around 150-200 tonnes per year of leftover tamarind seeds, which it exports to Japan and China where they extract raw materials to be used in the paint industry.
The research project started by studying the method of jellose extraction from tamarind seed powder and studying the gel-forming properties of jellose from tamarind seed flour.
At stake was a potential substitution market worth some Bt300 million a year, the amount of pectin that Thailand imports, mainly for food production The pectin value in the global market in 2017 is estimated at about $950 million (Bt31.6 billion) and is likely to increase annually.
The gel made from tamarind seed powder is quite similar to pectin but it has a much higher gel strength, meaning that it can be used in very little quantity. It also has a lot of dietary fibre with a low production cost. The jellose that was developed was then applied in various products and tested. The resulting high success rate led entrepreneurs to feel confident in the products and they invested Bt1.5 million in the production of this jellose made from tamarind seed flour, allowing an increase of production to 150-200 kg per day, and commercially focusing on the distribution of the ingredients for various food-industry applications. 
On the market, jellose is fetching between Bt5,000 and Bt12,000 per kilogram, varying in specifications and quality in many grades. At this point, samples of jellose have already been sent to food manufacturers such as Jele Beautie for trials. The response received so far has been very positive and the process of business negotiations is underway.
“In the past years, our company has been left with 500 tons of tamarind seeds per year from our tamarind processing,” said Waratcha Chanchit, managing director of Pinphet Co Ltd. 
In search of a product that would have a high value return, they started by studying the process of tamarind seed extraction to powder and the production of tamarind seed flour and gel. They developed the good pectin replacement product by studying gel behaviour, as well as the improvement of gel properties of the tamarind seed flour.
They then moved on to testing how jellose would perform as an ingredient in various products, such as tamarind jelly, tamarind gelato, film coating of fruit for export, a biological dressing film for wound coverage, “all in order to strengthen and expand the business line resulting from tamarind seed flour,” Waratcha said.
One experiment involved using jellose as an adhesive biofilm. The team worked with the Subdistrict Health Promotion Hospital of Klong Luang Pang, Muang district, Chachoengsao province. It was used in three different types of wounds to promote optimal healing, including compression wounds, wounds from all kinds of accidents, and chronic wounds from diseases such as cancer and diabetes. The result: the advantages of the jellose are clearly positive and furthermore, it is biodegradable and reinforces the outline of the wound.
Jellose-based jellies and ice-cream products are being sold at Pinphet Restaurant and souvenir shops in Phetchabun and neighbouring areas.