Cola can be healthy?! No, we are not crazy. A Goan has made a herbal cola from the agricultural waste of the nutmeg fruit/ nutmeg apple! When the production of this herbal cola blows up, it will help farmers get more income.
The Goa State Biodiversity Board was searching for someone who could make products from nutmeg fruit extract. This was when Sachin Rane came into the picture.
The ICAR-CCARI (Central Coastal Agricultural Research Institute), Old Goa came up with a method to use the nutmeg apple which farmers usually throw away. The Biodiversity Board wanted someone who could make a drink of the syrup made from nutmeg apple extract. Rane tried 3 different processes and one of them tasted quite similar to cola. This herbal cola will belong to the Goa government’s biodiversity brand ‘GoVan’.
Rane and his team came up with a shorter process than ICAR-CCAR’s method as the fruit usually gets spoilt quickly. The extraction can be done in a day and doesn’t cause any inconvenience to the farmers. Nutmeg extract is good for digestion and is known for alleviating stress.
The herbal cola won’t have any added colour or artificial flavouring which makes it healthier compared to other cola beverages. A 250 ml bottle will cost Rs. 20.
For us at Planet-Goa, our team is driven by that feeling of exhilaration that one gets when discovering that something ‘unique’ and ‘new’ about Goa for our ever-so-discerning readers.
