Bonjour, new guests from small-town India
Puneet Dhawan of Accor is brimming with ideas on ways to revive the hospitality sector
A newly developed coconut paste, which can replace grated, ground, roasted coconut or its milk in the South Indian dishes, will soon hit the market.
Developed by the Kochi-based Mezhukkattil Mills – a prominent player in the coconut industry for the past 40 years – the patented product targets besides Kerala, West Asia and Western countries.
“This is a first of its kind product in India in the convenient food category which can be used as an ingredient in the dishes made out of the coconut. Like Mayonnaise has been adopted by Indian cuisine, the coconut paste can also help in making coconut taste accessible to all,” Ubais Ali, Executive Director, Mezhukkattil Mills said.
“Normally, coconut has been used in various forms such as grated or roasted or its milk in the dishes. However, the new paste is an alternative and can be made into any of these forms at the comfort of a squeeze. It is a clear value addition and time saver in the new urban kitchen in Kerala,” he told BusinessLine.
According to him, 12 months shelf life and without refrigeration requirements, easy squeezable pack, drip-free dispensing, mess-free handling and easy cooking are the USP of the product. A 350-gm pack of paste costing ₹350 is made from five coconuts with authentic coconut taste and aroma and without any added preservatives or flavours. It can also make 2.5 litres of coconut milk from one pack. Since it is a concentrated product, it needs to add only very little to the dishes to get the authentic coconut taste. For a family of 4, one pack can last even a month, he added.
The process flow to achieve the product in the fine paste form has been patented. Likewise, the packaging called Standcaps is also patented from the US-based Glenroy. “We are importing the Standcaps and it is the first time this kind of packaging is introduced in India”, he said.
Ali said the company has spent around ₹75 lakh in the R&D. “Once the idea has been conceptualised, we travelled to Singapore, Thailand, Philippines to take trials on different machines to get the desired consistency and texture. Different trial machines were brought to Kochi to take the pilot testing”, he said.
Mezhukkattil Mills, with a strong presence in the B2B segment across industries such as cosmetics, hair care, soap manufacturing, cooking oil etc, is entering the B2C with the new product. The product is slated to be launched soon in the market, he added.