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UAS dept of sericulture develops mulberry tea, seeks funds & scouts to scale-up
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Friday, 13 November, 2020, 08 : 00 AM [IST]
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Nandita Vijay, Bengaluru
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University of Agricultural Sciences (UAS) department of sericulture has now capitalised an opportunity with mulberry leaf adding value with the development of mulberry tea. It is now scouting for promising companies for a technology transfer. Efforts are on to raise funds to scale-up its manufacture and marketing.
Going by the medicinal value of mulberry, Dr S Chandrashekar, head, department of sericulture told F&B News in a telecom that using mulberry leaf they developed a natural tea. It is seen to be comparable to a nutritional drink as it is reported to have benefits to control many of the life style disorders like hypertension, cholesterol and diabetes.
The mulberry tea is a well accepted herbal drink, in China and Japan. In our country, this tea is a popular beverage in the North East. Karnataka, also has a brand of mulberry tea known as Seri Chai from Healthline in Bengaluru among others.
“Our plan of action is to create an awareness on the importance of mulberry tea as its benefits are not well known. Therefore there is a need to propagate to the public the medicinal value of mulberry tea,” said Chandrashekar who has showcased the same at the Krishi Mela held between 11 and 13 November at the GKVK campus in Bengaluru in both physical and virtual mode.
“Mulberry tea in India has not taken off as expected due to lack of proper marketing. This is unlike countries of China and Japan where mulberry tea is branded and marketed,” he said.
“The department has also developed an instant tea which is being tested by the food lab. It is important for mulberry tea researchers to focus on commercialisation and then apply for patent too as these are crucial for consumers to consider mulberry tea as beverage,” he added.
“Extensive tests have been carried out for our mulberry tea. Now the mulberry leaf is known for its high level of nutrition and contains antioxidants and has a high medicinal value. It is reported to be proven for blood pressure reduce, decrease cholesterol and control sugar levels. We have also several research papers too, from our department,” he said.
“Going forward, our focus would be to research on instant tea which simplifies the process of making it by just adding it to hot water on similar lines of green tea preparation. The need of the hour is to identify a potential technology partner for commercialisation and marketing. As an academic and research institute, we are unable to get into these areas. We will also be sending in requests for grants under the Rashtriya Krishi Vikas Yojana,” concluded Chandrashekar.
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