Kaong or sugar palm fruit (known as kolang-kaling in Indonesia), with a chewy texture and transparent white has been processed at PT AVIN's facility into gummy candy, and powder that is ready to be brewed with warm water into a drink.

Bogor, W Java (Indonesia Window) – Served as sweets or fillings for popular Indonesian drinks as es teler, es buah, and kolak (compote), kaong or sugar palm fruit (known as kolang-kaling in Indonesia), always offers a delicious taste.

Es teler is a typical Indonesian iced drink containing a mixture of fresh fruits such as avocado, young coconut, and jackfruit, served with coconut milk, syrup, and shaved ice or ice cubes, while es buah is the country’s iced fruit cocktail dessert.

In fact, the chewy and sweet snack made from aren tree seeds or often called 'roof fruit' is not only delicious, but also rich in nutrients that are very beneficial for body health.

At the food and pharmaceutical innovation and development facility of PT Akademia Inovasi Indonesia (AVIN) in Indonesia’s Bogor district, West Java province, the oval-shaped kaong  with a chewy texture and transparent white color is processed into gummy candy, and powder that is ready to be brewed with warm water into a drink.

"The sugar palm fruit (kolang-kaling) contains almost 95 percent water. Gummy candy and sugar palm powder are extracts from kilos of sugar palm fruit," the Director of PT AVIN who is also a pharmacist, apt. Muhammad Afqary, told Indonesia Window in a special interview recently in Bogor.

He explained a number of health benefits of sugar palm fruit, including as a booster or stimulant of collagen production in the body.

"The human body produces collagen naturally, but as our age is increasing, this ability decreases. So, consuming sugar palm fruit can increase the production of natural collagen in the body," he noted.

The Indonesian Ministry of Health states in its website that collagen is the most abundant protein in the body and is composed of various types of amino acids, such as glycine and proline.

Collagen is the main component of connective tissue that forms several parts of the body, such as skin, bones and cartilage, muscles, tendons, and ligaments.

In addition, apt. Afqary, who is also the Head of the Pharmacy Study Program at the Bogor College of Industrial and Pharmaceutical Technology (locally known as its abbreviation STTIF), pointed out that the palm fruit that has been eaten is expected to expand in the stomach.

"Because it expands, it doesn't make you hungry quickly, so it's good for dieting," he added.

The palm fruit gummy candy and palm fruit powder drinks produced by PT AVIN are made in various flavors obtained from other foods that are also efficacious, including strawberries and butterfly pea flowers.

"This product is very practical because we don't need to eat a lot of palm fruit every day to be able to feel its benefits for our health," Afqary said.

 Reporting by Indonesia Window