21-07-2025
Investigating a cool new way to preserve underutilized crops
A researcher at Lethbridge Polytechnic is taking her knowledge and skills of developing low-sugar and sugar-free ice cream to find new options to store sugar beets while maintaining sucrose integrity.
A researcher at Lethbridge Polytechnic is taking her knowledge and skills of developing low-sugar and sugar-free ice cream to find new options to store sugar beets while maintaining sucrose integrity.
Rajpreet Goraya spent years analyzing how ice cream can be used to preserve underutilized crops like Indian gooseberries and orange peels.
She's now working at the polytechnic and researching new, long-term storage options for sugar beets.
Her research aims to provide producers with another revenue source to reduce crop risk and increase revenue streams.
'We are successful in preserving our sugar beet crop for more than a year, but we only claim for six months for that, so we are good to go,' said Goraya.
'We are good to preserve it, and then they can use it in different products.'
Sunday marked National Ice Cream Day, and Goraya is hoping her research will spark conversations about food sustainability, health and innovation.
