HomeBanana-Opuntia Recipe

Banana-Opuntia Recipe

(Makes approximately 6 cases of narrow glass or narrow plastic vials, or 3 cases of glass bottles)

Ingredients

  • Agar: 85g
  • Yeast: 165g
  • Methylparaben: 13.4g
  • Blended bananas: 825g
  • Karo® Syrup: 570g
  • Liquid Malt Extract: 180g
  • 100% Ethanol: 134ml
  • If making Banana-Opuntia food: 12.75g Powdered Opuntia cactus

Cooking instructions for a stove top:

  1. Bring 6 L de-ionized water to a boil in a large pot. (For this recipe we use a conventional electrical stovetop for our heat source. The temperature setting is HIGH).
  2. Dissolve the methlyparaben in the ethanol before mixing with rest of the wet ingredients.
  3. Have pre-measured dry and wet mixtures ready for use. (Both mixes can be prepared in advance and stored at -20°C in a Ziploc bag for up to 6 months).
  4. Boil water vigorously for 10 minutes and add the dry mix. Keep the temperature source setting at high heat.
  5. Stir the mixture continuously.
  6. Allow cooking for 10 minutes. Watch for over boil. Add the wet mixture to the pot (If adding Opuntia powder, it should be incorporated into the wet mixture and added in this step).
  7. Stir the mixture continuously for an additional 10 minutes.
  8. Remove pot from heat source and cool in a water bath.
  9. Stir food continuously to prevent clumping.
  10. Allow food to cool to 40°C and pour at EXACTLY 40°C. (Pouring the food below 40°C is too cold and the food will clump. Pouring the food above 40°C is too hot and the food will separate prior to plugging).

Pouring Dimensions:

  • Glass vials: 10 mL/vial = 1000 mL (1 L)/case of 100 vials
  • Plastic vials: 10 mL/vial = 1000 mL (1 L)/case of 100 vials
  • Glass bottles: 1/3 cup/bottle ~ 2 L/case of 24 bottles
  • Plastic bottles: ¼ cup/bottle ~ 1.5 L/case of 24 bottles

Equipment information:

We use pourers that more evenly dispense food into the narrow glass and plastic vials. Our pourers are manufactured by Applied Scientific and distributed by Fisher. These pourers are cataloged as fly vial filler for narrow diameter tray packed vials #AS 77D, and for wide diameter tray packed vials #AS 78D.