Innovations in Peeling Technology for Yacon

Description

Yacon (Smallanthus sonchifolius) is an underutilized tuber crop that was first cultivated by pre-Inca societies in the Andes Mountains. There has been a recent increase in interest in Yacon because it contains the largest known vegetal source of fructooligosaccharides (FOS), a type of sugar that has a lower caloric value than other types of sugar (approximately 25 to 35% of the calories of normal carbohydrates). The consumption of FOS is also known to promote better health of the intestinal tract. With this in mind the International Potato Center (CIP) with funding from the Erbacher foundation of Germany and the Swiss Agency for Development and Cooperation (SDC) has developed an innovative product: yacon syrup. The technology for production was designed so that the product could be processed in rural areas, in close proximity to the places where yacon is traditionally cultivated. This allows some of the aggregate value of the product to remain with poor yacon producing communities. The most labor intensive and costly stage in the production of the syrup is the washing and peeling of the yacon tubers in preparation for processing. Like washing, peeling requires a large amount of labor. Furthermore 20% of the raw material is removed during this process, a quantity that could be reduced without harming the quality of the final product. A pilot plant requires from 1-2 people working for washing and 2-3 laborers for peeling. These are process that could be mechanized to save labor. This report presents several peeling methods in addition to economic, technical, and marketing considerations for each method. An innovative method for peeling yacon using a brushing machine is presented in detail. This method provides a cost effective and technically feasible method for processing yacon that is sensitive to the marketing needs and customer acceptance of the product. Until now very little research has been conducted in the area of yacon peeling due to the lack of interest in the crop from processors. It is hoped that the technology presented in this report will increase the profitability of yacon processing and consequently increase the income of yacon processing communities in rural Peru as well as in other yacon processing countries in the developing world.

• Author: Graham Butler, Denys Rivera
• Publisher: Crops for the Future
• Published: 2004-12-16
• Pages: 15