JOIN USTo catapult the image of the millet as a trendy nutri-drink, Magic Malt, an instant ragi malt vending machine was launched by the bakery unit of the University of Agricultural Sciences (UAS) here on Wednesday.
The bakery unit had been working on this project for one and half year, according to Dr S V Suresha, Co-ordinator, Bakery training unit, UAS.
Ragi malt is savoured by everyone, but the non-availability of ready-to-drink malt makes it less popular. The malt also differs in taste in different places which gave rise to the need to prepare malt that has a uniform taste and available easily. And that is how ‘Magic Malt’ came into being.
Speaking at the function, S R Patil, Chairman of the Krishi Mission lauded the effort for this innovative venture. “Ragi malt should become popular through these vending machines,” he added.
It was not an easy task to design a vending machine for ragi malt compared to other beverages like tea or coffee. The reason, ragi when mixed with water creates lumps which blocks the easy flow of the malt and it leaves a residue. After discussions with 15 different design units, the UAS entered into a MoU with Swasthya food products to design the vending machine.
“We wanted to bring out the nutritional properties of Ragi through this project,” said Shreedhar, proprietor of Swasthya food products. The ragi malt machine has four containers for four different flavours - that are ginger, vanilla, lemon and chocolate. One kilogram of malt powder and make 100 cups of malt of 100 ml each.
The Swasthya food products has already manufactured 100 vending machines and the malt powder will be produced in the bakery unit.
DH News Service