Preparation and method of processing of Aloe Candy from Aloe species.
Field of Invention
This invention relates to a novel product Aloe Candy and the method of processing candy from Aloe Vera pulp/ fillets where the bioactive principles are retained.
Background of the Invention
Alove vera is a tropical or subtropical plant of the lily (Liliaceae) family, which contains many biologically active substances. These biologically active substances are located in three separate sections of the aloe leaf-a fillet located in the center of the leaf, in the leaf rind or cortex of the leaf and in a yellow fluid contained in the pericyclic cell of the vascular bundle, located between the leaf rind and the fillet, referred to as the latex or yellow sap.
The fluid present in the fillet, which is viscous, translucent and, mucilaginous, is called gel which consists of about 98.5% water and more than 60% of the total solid in the gel is polysaccharides of carbohydrate origin which are believed to be largely responsible for aloe's numerous beneficial properties like medicinal, therapeutic, curative in nature (Me Analley, 1990).
Aloe vera is known remedy for many digestive disorders such as irritable bowel syndrome, ulcerative colitis, Crohn's disease, oesophagitis, peptic ulcers and oral lesions (Grindlay and Reynolds 1986). Aloe gel can among other things, enhance immunity, improve liver function, prevent asthma and act as anti-inflammatory, anti-ulcer, anti-diabetic and anti-hypertension agent (Davis 1997; Reynolds & Dweck, 1999). Because of these potential properties, Aloe vera has found application in food industry especially in the formulation of health food drink, functional food and other beverage (Eshun & Quin, 2004).
These beneficial properties of the Aloe vera plant have created a demand for Aloe vera gel and Aloe vera products and their market area have expanded far from Aloe vera sources and the distance to the marketplaces has greatly increased.
Basic difficulties are present with respect to the storability or shelf life of the aqueous plant gel. The fluid product is, despite preservatives, heat and pH unstable, oxygen sensitive and furthermore, subject to microbial attack

(Coats 1979). It is known that the heating of the aloe pulp/gel contributes the destruction of bioactive polysaccharides as well as other enzymes and proteins, which are believed to be responsible for the therapeutic effect of aloe (Coats 1994, Chang 2006). Moreover, the transport of fresh aloe vera juice is difficult and expensive by reason of the large fluid volume. The present invention seeks to obliverate some of these drawbacks and makes a viable sustaining product.
The conventional process of making candy form plant materials involves boiling of sugar syrup with plant components at some stage of the process (Srivastava & Kumar 2002), which for reference, is described here. For impregnation of any of the following process is adopted.
a) Rapid process: Fruits are cooked in low sugar syrup and boiling
continued until the syrup becomes sufficiently thick and sugar
concentration is not less than 68%
b) Slow process: The fruit is blanched first. Sugar equal to the weight
of fruit is added to the fruit in alternate layer and the mixture is
allowed to stand for 24 hours. In the next step the whole mass is
boiled.
c) Vacuum process: The fruit is first boiled and then placed in the
syrup. The fruit syrup blend is then transferred to a vacuum pan
and concentrated under reduced pressure.
There is also some report of making some candy (Aisling 2002). The process again involves the boiling of the materials.
Most of the nutrients and bioactive constituents like vitamins, proteins and other bioactive ingredients of the fruits/vegetables are heat sensitive. They may not survive after heating the targeted materials. Thus there is a need of a process which can preserve the nutrients and other bioactive ingredients of the raw materials in the final product.
The present invention describes a process of candy preparation different from conventional heating process to retain the bioactive principles specially for making candy form Aloe pulp/fillets.
It is known that the heating of the aloe gel/pulp contributes to the destruction of polysaccharides as well as other enzymes and proteins, which are believed to be responsible for the therapeutic effect of aloe gel (Coats, 1994; Chang 2006). Even heating above 60°C promotes deacetyation and loss of side chain from the mannose backbones of the polysaccharides, which in turn affect the bioactivity of the molecules (Femenia et al., 2003). Thus to the best of knowledge, none has developed a process as the present one for making candy from Aloe pulp or other fruit/vegetables.

REFERENCES
Aisling Bronach (2002). Meat Candy, http; / /www. traditionalwitchcraft.org/ herb.
Avalos et al. (2000). Method of Processing Aloe leaves. Us Patent 6083508.
Chang et al. (2006). Effect of heat treatment on the stabilities of polysaccharides substances and barbaloin in gel juice from Aloe vera Miller. Journal of Food Engineering, 75(2): 245-251.
Coats, B.C. (1994). Method of processing stabilized Aloe vera gel obtained from the whole Aloe vera leaf.
Coats, B.C. (1979). Hypoallergenic stabilized Aloe vera gel. US Patent 4178372.
Davis, R.H. Aloe vera: A scientific Approach; Vantage Press, New York, 1997.
Eshun, K., and Qian, H. (2004). Aloe vera: A valuable Ingredient for the Food, Pharmaceutical and Cosmetic Industries-A Review. Critical Review in Food Science and Nutrition, 44:91-96.
Femenia et al. (2003). Effect of heat treatment and dehydration on bioactive polysaccharide Acemannan and cell wall polymers form Aloe barbadensis Mill. Carbohydrate Polymers 51:397-405.
Grindlay, D., and T. Reynolds (1986). The Aloe vera Phenomenon: A review of the Properties and Modern Uses of the Leaf Parenchyma Gel. Journal of Ethnopharmacology 16:117-151.
McAnalley, B. H. (1990). Process for preparation of Aloe products, products produced thereby and composition thereof. US Patent 4959214.
Reynolds, T., and Dweck, A.C (1999). Journal of Ethnopharmacology, 68:3.
Srivastava, R.P. and Kumar, S. (2002). Fruit and Vegetable preservation: Principle and practices, 3rd revised enlarged edition, International Book Distributing Company, Lucknow, India.
Yagi, S. (2005). Aloe powder, Aloe juice, and method for producing the same. International Publication Number Wo 2005/112962 Al.

Objects of the Invention
The main object of this invention is to prepare edible solid product specifically candy form the fillet/pulp of plant materials specially Aloe species having heat sensitive bioactive components.
Other object is to make the solid edible product self stable at ambient temperature for an extended period of time without spoilage.
Another object is to retain the beneficial ingredient of the plant materials in the final product.
Yet another object is to reduce the bulkiness of raw materials by reducing water content.
Further object of this invention is to avoid the heating of the raw materials during preparation of the product.
Statement of Invention
This invention relates to a novel shelf stable product called Aloe candy exhibiting appealing flavor, color, texture, ready to eat delicacy from the leaf of Aloe vera or other species of Aloe, having bioactive polysaccharides 0.2 to 0.34%, moisture contentlS to 20%, wherein the syrup comprising acidifying fruit juice, juice powders or sugar, strength ranges from 50% to 85% and the method of processing thereof comprising the steps in sequence of;
(A) Preparing Aloe fillets;
(B) Mixing the aloe fillets in a syrup at ambient temperature, said syrup
consisting essentially of

1) Sugar at least at a concentration of 50% by weight of the
syrup.
2) Sufficient acidulant to provide the syrup with a pH between
3.0 and 4.0

(C) Keeping the syrup containing aloe fillets at low temperature for 48
hrs.
(D) Removing the aloe fillets form the syrup; and again raising the
concentration of the syrup to about 50% by adding sugar, replacing
the aloe fillets into the syrup and keeping the mixture at ambient
temperature for one hour followed by shifting the mixture at low
temperature for the next 48 hours.

(E) Taking out the aloe fillets, increasing the sugar concentration of
syrup to 70% and maintaining the pH also, replacing the aloe fillets
in the syrup and keeping the mixture now at ambient temperature
for 48 hours.
(F) Separating the aloe fillets, increasing the concretion of sugar in the
syrup to 80%; replacing the aloe fillets at ambient temperature arid
maintaining it for another 96 hours.
(G) Taking out the impregnated aloe fillets form the syrup and putting
on an 8-mesh screen for about 20 minutes to drain the excess
syrup,
(H) Placing the impregnated fillets into hot waster (60-70C), stirring for 5-10 seconds and draining the water immediately,
(I) Removing the remaining water from the surface of the fillets by tray drying at room temperature.
(J) Coating the product so obtained with glucose by rolling over glucose powder and then packing.
Brief Description of accompanying drawings
Fig 1: depicts a front view of an Aloe vera plant.
Fig 2: depicts a perspective view of a typical aloe leaf.
Fig 3: depicts a generalized cross sectional view of a leaf taken along line AA of Fig 2.
Fig 4: is a flowchart of conventional process of making fruit/vegetable candy.
Fig 5: depicts the flowchart of making candy of the present invention. Detailed description of Invention
The invention relates to a self-stable edible product named "Aloe Candy", from the fillet of Aloe vera or other species of aloe, and to the method of preparation of such product containing beneficial properties, which is attributed to the aloe polysaccharides. The invention is directed to a process for preserving the therapeutic quality of aloe products and eliminating the high water content to make solid products but retaining natural attributes. The polysaccharides responsible for the beneficial properties are retained in the product. The 'Aloe candy' prepared in this invention is a novel product retaining the beneficial polysaccharides of the

source materials. It is in solid form and self-stable, has high content of fiber and low water content. Chemical analysis of the product form different batches showed that the active ingredient, 'Aloe vera polysaccharides' (AVPS) present in the product ranges form 0.2 to 0.35%, depending upon the concentration of the AVPS present in the source materials and moisture content varies form 15 to 20%. The syrup after separation of the fillets after every step is reusable. (A) For making this novel aloe candy, the process involves four steps in which sugar infusion is carried out. Sugar concentration used for infusion ranges from 20 to 85° brix. In first two steps aloe materials are treated with sugar solution for 48 hours in a certain temperature regime so that the active polysaccharides are not harmed. Concentration of polysaccharides is monitored by chemical analysis. In step 3, duration of treatment with sugar solution is increased to 96 hours. In this step temperature range is also changed. In the final step, excess solution is removed from the impregnated aloe fillet, which is now called aloe candy. The product so obtained is coated with glucose by rolling over glucose powder. Finally, the aloe candy so prepared is put in Polypack and sealed airtight. The chemical analysis showed that the polysaccharide content ranged form 0.2 to 0.35%, depending upon the concentration of the polysaccharides present in the source materials and moisture content ranges form 15 to 20%. The production method involves several steps. Each of the steps of the method is described in details below.
Throughout the specification and claims percentages are by weight, temperature in degree Celsius, ambient temperature has range from 22 to 35°C and low temperature means a range from 4 to 12°C.
Preparation of Fillet
The mature leaves are harvested from the plants preferably of four to five years in age and processed as early as possible, because decomposition of the gel begins upon cutting due to enzymatic reactions and the activity of bacteria normally present in the leaves. Before processing understanding the process of separation of fillet. It will also help in avoiding the contamination of aloin with the gel. A front view of a fully mature aloe plant is illustrated in Fig. 1 and designated 10 wherein a typical aloe leaf is depicted by 12. The leaf in details is illustrated in Fig. 2 which includes a base 14, a tapering outer point 16, short sharp spines 18 located along the leaf margin 20 and 22, an outer thick green top rind 24 and bottom 26.
A cross section of leaf 12 is depicted in Fig. 3 wherein shown the top thick green rind 24 and bottom thick green rind 26, a layer 28 of viscous, jelly like mucilage is immediately under the thick rind 24 and 26. It is well known that the layer 28 has vascular bundles, which are attached to the inner surface of the rinds 24 and 26. These vascular bundles protrude in

the mucilage layer. The fillet proper is designated by 30. It has hexagonal structure containing the fillet fluid, which has about 98.5% water. After the leaves are cut, they are carefully washed with clean water and are preferably soaked for about five minutes in a 0.1% solution of bleaching powder. The anthraquinone-containing yellow sap from the pericyclic cells is drained from the freshly cut leaves. The leaves are then rinsed with clean water, the tips and bases are cut off. In order to avoid contaminating the internal filter with the yellow sap the lower one-inch of the leaf base, the tapering point (2-4 inches) of the leaf top, and the short, sharp spines located along the leaf margins are removed by a sharp knife. The knife is then introduced into the mucilage layer below the green rind to avoid the vascular bundles and the top rind is removed. The bottom rind is similarly removed and the rind parts are discarded. As an additional procedure to limit inclusion of the inadvertent laxative anthraquinones, the fillets may be washed in water. After washing, fillets uniformly cut in to pieces of Va" x y2" size.
Preparation of sugar syrup
Sugar(s) syrup can be prepared using any conventional nutritive carbohydrate sweetening agent including /both mono-and disaccharides such as sucrose, invert sugar, dextrose, corn syrup including high fructose corn syrup, maltose, honey, fructose, corn syrup solids and fruit juices. Preferred sugars are selected from the group consisting of sucrose, corn syrup, fructose, fruit juice and mixtures thereof. Where cost is a primary consideration, sucrose is the sugar of choice. The syrup of desired strength is prepared dissolving desired quantity of sugar by conventional method of heating. If flavor quality is of paramount concern, then fruit juices or juice powders are the sugar of choice and added in the last step of sugar infusion.
The pH of fresh aloe gel ranges from about 4.0 to 4.5. The pH of the syrup, however, is maintained between 3.0 and 4.0. The pH can be adjusted by adding sufficient amounts of any food grade acidulant including edible organic acids and mineral acids as well as fruit juices, and mixtures thereof, suitable edible organic acids include, for example, citric, malic, adipic, fumeric, and mixtures thereof. Exemplary mineral acids include phosphoric, hydrochloric and sulfuric acids. Exemplary acidifying fruit juices include lemon juice, limejuice, vinegar, apple cider, and mixtures thereof. Optionally, the cooking syrup may contain adjuvant, which is desired to be infused into the final products. Such adjutants may include, for example, minor amounts (0.1 to 2%) flavors, and colors, which are added in last step of sugar infusion.

Preparation of candy
The Aloe candy is prepared in multiple steps, infusion of sugar initially is started with lower sugar concentration, and the concentration is increased in subsequent steps, infusion of sugar in early steps is allowed to occur at low temperature. In the later steps, infusion process is carried out at ambient temperature ranging from 22-35C. This is done to retain the beneficial quality of aloe, which is attributed to acetylate aloe polysaccharides. Each of steps of the method is described in detail below.
Step I: In this step, the syrup of 50-55° brix is prepared, brought to room temperature, the pH is maintained at between 3.0 and 4.0 by adding any acidulats and Aloe fillets are dipped in the syrup and maintained at ambient temperature for one hour and subsequently transferred to a temperature about 4-8°C in a refrigerator and kept for 48 hours.
Step II: After 48 hours, the fillets and syrup, form step I are separated. The concentration of this syrup which has now reduced to around 10-15° brix is again raised to 50-55° brix and the pH is also maintained between 3.0 and 4.0. The process of step I is repeated here.
Step III: after 48 hours at low temperature, fillets are separated form the mixture. The concentration of syrup, which has reduced to a strength of about 25-35°C brix, after step II, is raised to between 70 and 80° brix by dissolving appropriate quantity of sugars at elevated temperature. The temperature of the syrup is brought to room temperature and the separated fillets are again replaced in the syrup and kept for 48 hours at ambient temperature.
After 48 hours, the sugar impregnated fillets are removed; the strength of the syrup which had reduced concentration is raised to about 85° brix by dissolving sugars. At ambient temperature, fillets are replaced in the syrup and the mixture was kept at ambient conditions for another 96 hours.
Step IV: At the end of 96 hours of the step III, when the strength of the syrup was around 70° brix, the excess syrup was removed by filtration through a 8-mesh screen. Sugar impregnated fillets are then immersed in hot water (55-60°C), stirred for 5-10 seconds and immediately separated form water by passing through a 8-mesh screen. Remaining water is removed by drying in a tray drier at ambient temperature. The product so obtained is coated with glucose by rolling over glucose powder and immediately packed in polypack and sealed airtight. The process adopted for making Aloe candy is different form what is generally adopted for making candy from fruits, which involves heat treatment of the

ingredients. Heating process can't be applied in the case of Aloe candy, as the active ingredients including polysaccharides (AVPS), present in the fillet fluids are heat sensitive. More over, AVPS are susceptible to microbial/enzymatic degradation at ambient temperature. Sugar strength is slowly increased in order to avoid the shrinkage of the fillets. During the preparation of Aloe candy, when the syrup strength is low (about 50 brix), impregnation of sugar into the fillets is allowed to occur at low temperature which prevents the decomposition due to heat and microbial/ enzymatic attack. In later stage of preparation, when syrup Strength is raised to above 80° brix, the impregnation may be carried out at ambient temperature, since, higher concentration of sugar in the solution acts as a preservative for bioactive ingredients.
Immersion of the fillets in the sugar syrup leads to an action of equilibrating the concentration by liquid, which occurs when plurality kinds of soluble liquid are mixed together. Since, fillet fluid is very dilute containing about 99.5% water, sugar inters into the fillet fluid and water from the fillets flows out and lowers the syrup strength. The AVPS, present in the fillet fluid, which have very high molecular weight, are unlikely to move out of the fillets. These macromolecules do not flow out even when the fillets are immersed in water (Yagi, 2005).
The 'Aloe candy' prepared in this invention is a novel product retaining the bioactive polysaccharides of the source materials, has high content of fiber and low water content. It is in solid form and self-stable. Chemical analysis of the product showed that the active ingredient, 'Aloe vera polysaccharides' (AVPS) present in the product ranges form 0.2 to 0.35%, depending upon the concentration of the AVPS present in the source materials. Since heating is not involved in the preparation and impregnation in initial stage is carried out at low temperature, it is assumed that other active ingredients are also retained in the product.
EXAMPLE
The following example for the preparation of Aloe candy, further describes and demonstrates embodiments within the scope of the present invention. The example is given only for the purpose of illustration and is not to be construed as limitation of the present invention, as many variations are possible without departing from the sprit and scope of the invention.
Mature Aloe vera leaves were harvested and fillets were processed immediately by the process described above. The fillets were cut into pieces of 1/2" x 1/2" size. 2 Kg of the fillets was dipped in sugar syrup of strength 55° brix (750 ml) at ambient temperature. After one hour, the fillets-syrup mixture was shifted to low temperature (4°C) for 48 hours. The final product, Aloe candy, was obtained after following the process described in the previous section and the yield is 500 g. AVPS content in the product was 0.35 g/100 g.

We Claim
1. A novel shelf stable product called Aloe candy exhibiting appealing
flavor, color, texture, ready to eat delicacy from the leaf of Aloe vera
or other species of Aloe, having bioactive polysaccharides 0.2 to
0.34%, moisture content l5 to 20%, wherein the syrup comprising
acidifying fruit juice, juice powders or sugar, strength ranges from
50% to 85% and the method of processing thereof.
2. A novel shelf stable product Aloe candy and the method of
processing thereof as claimed in claim 1 comprising the steps in
sequence of;

(A) Preparing Aloe fillets;
(B) Mixing the aloe fillets in a syrup at ambient temperature, said syrup
consisting essentially of

1) Sugar at least at a concentration of 50% by weight of the
syrup.
2) Sufficient acidulant to provide the syrup with a pH between
3.0 and 4.0
(C) Keeping the syrup containing aloe fillets at low temperature for 48
hrs.
(D) Removing the aloe fillets form the syrup; and again raising the
concentration of the syrup to about 50% by adding sugar, replacing
the aloe fillets into the syrup and keeping the mixture at ambient
temperature for one hour followed by shifting the mixture at low
temperature for the next 48 hours.
(E) Taking out the aloe fillets, increasing the sugar concentration of
syrup to 70% and maintaining the pH also, replacing the aloe fillets
in the syrup and keeping the mixture now at ambient temperature
for 48 hours.
(F) Separating the aloe fillets, increasing the concretion of sugar in the
syrup to 80%; replacing the aloe fillets at ambient temperature and
maintaining it for another 96 hours.
(G) Taking out the impregnated aloe fillets form the syrup and putting
on an 8-mesh screen for about 20 minutes to drain the excess
syrup,
(H) Placing the impregnated fillets into hot waster (60-70C), stirring for 5-10 seconds and draining the water immediately,

(I) Removing the remaining water from the surface of the fillets by tray drying at room temperature,
(J) Coating the product so obtained with glucose by rolling over glucose powder and then packing.
3. A novel shelf stable product Aloe candy as claimed in claim 1,
wherein the acidifying fruit juice selected from group of lemon juice,
lime juice, vinegar, apple cider and mixtures thereof.
4. A novel shelf stable product Aloe candy as claimed in claim 1,
wherein the syrup after separation of the fillets after every step is
reusable.
5. A novel shelf stable product Aloe candy and the method of
processing thereof as claimed in claim2, wherein the said process
further comprises the step of removing excess syrup from the
surface of the sugar impregnated aloe fillets by filtration through an
8-mesh screen for about 20 minutes.
6. A novel shelf stable product Aloe candy and the method of
processing thereof as claimed in claim2, wherein the said excess
syrup is removed by filtering the said aloe fillets, fillets then being
treated with hot water, excess water from fillets is removed by
filtration through a 8-mesh screen.
7. A novel shelf stable product Aloe candy and the method of
processing thereof as claimed in claim2, wherein said excess water
is removed by filtration of said fillets, said infused fillets are then
subjected to tray drying at ambient temperature.
8. A novel shelf stable product Aloe candy and the method of
processing thereof as claimed in claim2, wherein the said product is
coated with glucose powder to remove stickiness and obtain well
separated candy pieces.