INTRODUCTION "Neera [sap extracted from Borassus flabellifer] can be converted into Jaggery sweet as honey itself. This Jaggery is superior to cane Jaggery. Cane Jaggery is sweet, but Palm Jaggery is sweet and delicious; it can be produced worth crores of rupees. Palm Gur gives mineral salts too. Doctors have told me to eat Jaggery and I always eat Palm Gur. Nature has made this product in such a way that it cannot be manufactured in the Mills; it is produced in the Cottages. Where there are Palm trees, this Jaggery can be easily produced. Andhra Desha has thousands of Palm trees; there, Jaggery is produced in every hamlet. This is the way to banish poverty from the land. This also is an antidote to poverty." Mahatma Gandhi [From a speech delivered at the opening of the village industry exhibition in Brindawan Bihar (3 May 1939)] “Mahatma Gandhi largely experimented with food; it was important to him. His personal diet was vegetarian and consisted of 1 litre goats milk, 150g wheat and rice, 75 g leafy vegetables, 125g other vegetables, 25g lettuce 40g ghee and 40-50g coconut blossom sugar.” These are the wordings inscribed on palm sugar products of different brands produced in countries like Indonesia and Phillippines for promoting their brands. We, in India, simply overlooked the potential of this wonderful product. In the Mumbai Metropolitan Region (MMR) consisting of the districts of Mumbai, Thane and Raigad, there are two main highways, the Western Highway connecting Mumbai to Ahmedabad and beyond, the Eastern Highway connecting Mumbai to Pune via Thane, Kalyan-Dombivili, Karjat etc. The expressway connecting to Pune and the Mumbai Goa road. The MMR region is also blessed with Rail connectivity and now the Metro. One thing that strikes the eyes is that all along the highways and other arterial roads and in many of the Railway Stations, we find a small yellow coloured kiosk with the words “NEERA VIKRI KENDRA” In English and Devnagiri. Along the Highways we invariably find cars and two wheelers parked near these ‘kendras’ and people quenching their thirsts with a glass of a cool milky liquid. Commuters waiting for their trains also are seen gulping down this liquid. That set me thinking on what is this product and could we manufacture and market this product in a safe, hygienic and controlled environment. Neera is a nutritious health drink with 0% alcohol, extracted from the immature inflorescence of coconut palm, date palms(Kajur) and palmyra (also known as tadgola). It is a rich source of sugars, minerals and vitamins. It contains substantial amounts of iron, phosphorus and ascorbic acid. It is more nutritious than any of the commercially marketed fruit juices available in the country. The nutritional composition of Neera is given below. As it has very low Glycemic Index (GI) of 35(normal table sugar has GI 70), it can be used by diabetic patients. The sugar present in other fruit juices has a GI more than double that of Neera. A coconut palm can yield, on an average 2 litres of Neera per day, which may go even up to 4.5 litres based on the health of the palm and management of the garden. The high nutritive value of Neera makes it an excellent health drink. It is wholesome, cool and good for improving the general health. It can be given as a supplement for iron and vitamin deficiency. Clinical studies indicate medical applications for asthma, tuberculosis, bronchial suffocation and piles. It is believed to facilitate clear urination and prevent jaundice. Neera contains high amount of glutamic acid which is the amino acid used by the body to build proteins. It is high in inositol which is beneficial for the treatment of eye abnormalities, eczema. Consumers today are more health conscious and are therefore looking at alternative health drinks which are tasty and delicious and at the same time are safe, nutritious without too much calories. NEERA is that alternative which not only provides a highly nutritious, full of vitamins and minerals with a low glycemic value and thus can be safely consumed by the diabetics also. In India NEERA is tapped from three types of Palms viz. Coconut Palms, Date Palms and Palmyra Palms. The coastal states such as Kerala, Karnataka, Goa, Maharashtra and Gujarat plus the islands of Andaman & Nicobar and Lakshadweep and Minicoy largely uses Coconut Palms for tapping NEERA while at the same time the interior regions of these states uses the Palmyra Palms(Tadgola) also to produce NEERA. West Bengal and Orissa also uses the Palmyrah Palms for extracting NEERA. States such as Tamil Nadu, Andhra Pradesh, Chhatisgarh, Jharkhand, Madhya Pradesh and Rajasthan largely uses the Date Palms for tapping Neera. India, incidentally, is the largest producer of coconuts in the world although the full potential of this “Kalp Vriksh” has not been fully exploited. Amongst the 2,000 odd palm species in the world, only nine species yield inflorescence sap (neera) / sweet juice and of these only four general species are found in India viz., coconut palm, date palm, palmyrah palm and sago palm. The coconut palm, popularly known as ‘tree of life’, is characteristically a food supplier from its fruit, inflorescence and other edible products. India ranks first in the world in coconut production with a production of 10840 metric tones nuts from 1.89 million hectares; of these Kerala has around 18 crore coconut palms and about 25 % of the palms could be spared for Neera tapping. The inflorescence of this palm is a source of many food products. Its unopened spathe can be tapped to produce inflorescence sap, while its fertilized flowers or fruits can be processed to produce coconut meat, milk, cream, oil, water, flour, desiccated coconut, chips and nata de coco. The sap can be processed into sap juice / drink, syrup or honey, crude sugar or granulated brown sugar etc. Season and stage for tapping Tapping for extraction of neera is mostly done in the dry season extending from November to March and in wet weather period from April to October. Dry weather tapping is done mostly in the low lying lands where palms do not suffer due to moisture stress during drought period. The spathe is considered ready for tapping when the inflorescence opens or is just about to burst. The female flower within the unopened spadix causes a swelling at the base and this indicates the appropriate stage for tapping. Since coconut produces inflorescence regularly in the successive leaf axils, tapping can be done throughout the year. Neera can be extracted from Tall palms, Dwarf palms and the hybrids and out of these the hybrids followed by Talls are found to be high yielders and most preferred. Tapping technique and collection of sap: The selected unopened spadix is wrapped with fibrous chord of coconut leaf petiole along its length to prevent it from splitting. Inflorescence suitable for tapping is trained and it consists of gentle uniform beating all over the surface using a hardwood mallet twice daily so as to carefully bruise and rapture the tender tissues of the floral branch. Approximately seven to ten centimeter of the tip of the spathe is cut off. After three days the surface appears moist due to oozing of juice. An earthen pot is just hung around the spadix to collect the oozing juice. The tip of the spaidx is tied down with a string to a nearby petiole or leaf. The daily slicing of the tip of the spadix allows the sap to flow continuously and slicing is done once in the morning and evening. The finer the slice, the better the output. It is a huge employment generator. It is labour intensive as the tapping is done manually. A tapper can at best tap 10 to 15 trees in a day. Considering the millions of trees that is grown in india and even if only 10% of these trees is made available for tapping then the employment potential is in lakhs without too much training. It also helps in keeping the prices of coconuts falling drastically during certain season when there is over production. Composition of Neera: Vitamin content in freshly collected Coconut Sap Thiamine 77 Riboflavin 12.2 Pyridoxal 38.4 Pantothenic acid 5.2 Nicotinic acid 40.6 IBiotin 0.17 Folic acid 0.24 Inositol 127.7 Choline 9 Vitamin B12 Trace Source: Philippine Coconut Authority Composition of Neera Total solids (g/100 ml) 15.2 to 19.7 pH 6 to 6.5 Specific gravity 1.058 to 1.077 Total sugars (g/100 ml) 14.4 Original reducing sugars (g/100 ml) 5.58 Total reducing sugars (g/100 ml) 9.85 Total ash (g/100 ml) 0.11 to 0.41 Citric acid (g/100 ml) 0.5 Alcohol (in %) nil Iron (g/100 ml) 0.15 Phosphorus (g/100 ml) 7.59 Ascorbic acid (mg/100 ml) 16 to 30 Total protein (g/100 ml) 0.23-0.32 Manufactures of Neera & its Products in the world Globally Neera and its value added products are manufactured by all the major coconut producing countries except India. The major players in the field are Indonesia, Philippines, Thailand, Malaysia, Srilanka and Vietnam. The major export destinations are USA, Canada, Norway, France, Middle East, South Korea, Japan, Australia and New Zealand. Export of Neera and palm sugar has shown a surging trend in Indonesia, Philippines and Thailand as a healthy natural product. In Philippines, projects on coconut sugar were initiated as early in 1995. Indonesia produced over 6 lakh MT of palm sugar in 2011.