Many of the fruits are loved by the people for it’s great taste and smell. However, durian may not be always one of them. Not everyone likes the durian’s smell but there are still lots of people who love it.

In Davao, durian is actually regarded as the King of Fruits. Kriza Faye Calumba, a food technologist from Davao has invented a “healthy beer” made of the fruit, durian.

According to PEP.ph, she revealed that her invention was the product of her Master’s thesis. “The beer was the product of my Master’s thesis at Louisiana State University, USA.

“I was able to work with lactic acid bacteria for my undergraduate thesis at UP Mindanao and with such interest, I applied similar bacteria as probiotics for my Master’s research.” she stated.

She further explained that, “Putting probiotics in the beer is a challenging feat, so I explored using the rind from durian to protect the bacteria in the beer.

“I only used the rind from durian, or the white part of the peel and with the thorns removed, and made it into powder.

“Only one percent of the durian rind powder was used during the immobilization, which is the process where I trap the bacteria within the powder.”

The journey on how the invention was made possible was not easy. She and her lab partners tried to figure out the perfect blend and with that, comes a lot of effort in using the trial and error method.

“It probably took more than half a year for us to determine the right ingredient formulation, mixing the malt, water, hops and yeast, as well as brewing and fermentation processes to make the probiotic bacteria thrive in the beer,” she continued.

“When given the opportunity to conduct further studies on beer with probiotics, it would be a breakthrough to have such product commercialized,” she said. Probiotics are live microorganisms that are good for the digestive system. With a “healthy beer” like this, many health conscious people would definitely give it a try, even lactose intolerant people may be able to do so.

“Probiotic products are shown to have gastrointestinal health benefits. They can also reduce the risk of cardiovascular diseases and improve our immune system,”

“While most probiotic products are dairy, there are increasing efforts to develop non-dairy probiotic products to cater to the lactose-intolerant and other populations that cannot consume dairy foods, and beer is one possible beverage.

“Since alcoholic drinks have been linked to disruption of gut microbiota balance, beer with probiotics could be a therapeutic avenue.

“The durian rind powder used, aside from serving as protection for the probiotics up to some point, can also provide other benefits such as acting as a bulking agent to ease defecation.”

This “healthy beer” is said to have a “soury” taste but it also taste like the usual beer. However, the healthy durian-flavored beer out in the market would have to wait.

“We are opening a probiotic yogurt milk tea shop in Davao City very soon,” Kriza added.

“Since milk tea is a favorite of a lot of Filipinos, I was thinking that this would be a good start to share my love for probiotics with people.”