Sweets with 'extended' vegetables on offer in Kolkata

Kolkata, June 9 (ANI): Proteins and vitamins of vegetables wrapped with mouth-watering sweets are on offer at sweet shops in Kolkata.

The sweet makers in the city are making use of real veggies and herbs using a Japanese technology called 'extrusion' to add goodness to their products.

'Extrusion' involves grating the vegetables into small pieces and mixing them through a squeezing motion to evenly spread the nutrient molecules.

"Sweets are always available to us and on many occasion we have been much accustomed to use the sweets. So if we use the nutrients of the herbs in the sweet then there will be a opening for us to take this type of nutrients for our health benefits," saidd Utpal Roy Chowdhury, Head of the Department, Food Technology and Biochemical Engineering, Jadavpur University, Kolkata.

"The natural flavours and colours from the vegetables replace the chemical additives used in making sweets. The pink, off-white, yellow, orange colours of the vegetable sweets come naturally from carrots, papaya, bel (wood apple), beetroot. The sweets also become healthier with the vitamins and minerals present in the veggies," he added.

This initiative was applauded by sweet tooth customers who said that now they could offer sweets to their children without hesitation.

"Its very good that the herbal sweets, carrot, full of proteins can be given to children diabetic patients and if such sweets are available in the market then it is really good," said Paresh Haldar, a customer.

Predominantly made of milk products, the sweets with vegetables nutrients offer healthy option for those with a sweet tooth. By Ajitha Menon(ANI)