Pengaruh Jenis Perlakuan Pendahuluan dan Lama Pengeringan Terhadap Mutu Fisikokimia dan Organoleptik Tepung Daun Chaya (Cnidoscolus aconitifolius)

Abstract

Cnidoscolus aconitifolius, also known as chaya leaves, are rich in vitamins and antioxidants. Chaya leaves are processed into flour to provide nutrients in food products. Blanching, soaking in sodium metabisulfite, and soaking in calcium hydroxide are examples of pretreatment methods used in order to maintain the nutrients in chaya leaves while also producing flour with the best organoleptic value. Effective drying time leads to flour that matches required standards. This research was aimed to determine the effect of pretreatment type and drying time and the interaction of both on the physicochemical and organoleptic qualities of chaya leaves flour. This research used the factorial Completely Randomized Design (CDR) method with two factors: pretreatment type (P) which includes (blanching, soaking in sodium metabisulfite, and soaking in calcium hydroxide) and drying time (L) at (4 hours, 5 hours, 6 hours, and 7 hours). The results indicate that the pretreatment type (P) significantly affected (P<0.01) the moisture content, ash content, protein content, carbohydrate content, color index, antioxidant activity, flour yields, description of color, description of aroma, hedonic color, hedonic aroma, and overall acceptance of chaya leaf powder. Drying time also significantly affected (P<0.01) the moisture content, ash content, fat content, protein content, carbohydrate content, crude fiber content, color index, antioxidant activity, flour yields, description of color, description of aroma, hedonic color, hedonic aroma, and overall acceptance of chaya leaf powder. The best treatment was determined based on the De Garmo method was P2L2, which were the treatment with a pretreatment type of soaking in sodium metabisulfite and duration of drying time in 5 hours.