www.tjprc.org editor@tjprc.org UTILIZATION OF BANANA IN THE DEVELOPMENT OF NUTRIENT RICH BANANA BAR R. ARUNA 1 , K. VINAY PROMOD KUMAR 2 & K. SOWJANYA 3 1 Department of Food Chemistry and Nutrition, CFST, ANGRAU, Andhra Pradesh, India 2,3 Department of Food Science and Technology, CFST, ANGRAU, Andhra Pradesh, India ABSTRACT The fruit banana, is produced on a large scale in the country. Banana is consumed as fresh and also in processed forms such as figs, snack foods and chips. But being highly perishable in nature, there is a strong need to minimize the huge post harvest losses of this important fruit. Today, bananas and plantains are best known as a food crop, almost every part of the plant can be used in one way or another, this may explain, why in India the banana is popularly known as “kalpataru”, meaning “herb with all imaginable uses”. Bananas also known as “The fruit eaten by wise men” is because, for it’s both cheap and full of nutrients, are rich in fiber, vitamins and minerals. Research has proven that, just two bananas provide enough energy for a strenuous 90-minute workout. No wonder, the banana is the number one fruit with the World’s leading athletes. In this regard, the pulp banana is used for preparation of banana bar. The pulp of banana with higher amount of water, and required amount of soluble fiber is selected. Musa Paradisica of Indian origin species is generally the wide distributed variety, used all over the country and it is used in the preparation of slab/bar. Finely grinded and sieved sugar, which has less granule size, is used in the preparation of slab/bar. KEYWORDS: Kalpataru & Musa Paradisica Received: Aug 09, 2017; Accepted: Aug 29, 2017; Published: Sep 16, 2017; Paper Id.: IJASROCT201725 INTRODUCTION India is the third largest producer of fruits & vegetables, in the world. Fruits & vegetables with their rich contents of minerals, vitamins, and dietary fiber & anti oxidants are the protective foods & considered as nature gifts for health & well being of humans. They are highly perishable in nature, due to high moisture content (70- 95%); soft texture etc bacterial rotting by microbial respiration, as well as physiological breakdown is seen. Moisture degradation in the quality of fruits & vegetables also starts immediately after the harvest leading to drying & shriveling. Fruits & vegetables absorb environment gasses, such as oxygen & produce carbon dioxide & ethylene. They also get infested easily with micro organisms like fungi, bacteria & insects affecting food safety. In villages where fruits & vegetables are grown in plenty, facilities for processing are not in existence & lot of them are wasted. In the country, the whole food processing industry, is still has not grown big & presently less than 4% of horticultural produce is being processed industrially (Golb, 2007). Hence, these fruits & vegetables are to be preserved & protected, from deterioration in both quality & quantity. Recent statistics showed that, nearly 50% of the losses also occur due to improper handling, inadequate infra structure facilities for processing, preservation, storage, distant markets, high cost & inappropriate packaging, out dated technologies & machinery. As a result the wastage, in monetary terms is to the tune of Original Article International Journal of Agricultural Science and Research (IJASR) ISSN (P): 2250-0057; ISSN (E): 2321-0087 Vol. 7, Issue 5, Oct 2017, 189-194 © TJPRC Pvt. Ltd.