Amorphophallus muelleri Blume synonym of A. oncophyllus (porang) is one of the species of porang that grows in Indonesia, especially in East Java. It has a high economic value because the tubers contain glucomannan. Earlier work reported that harvest timing and length of storage affected secondary metabolite containing on plants. The study objective was to determine the glucomannan content of porang at 1, 2 months before dormant, at dormant and length of storage time (1 and 2 months after dormant) at room temperature. Glucomannan was isolated from fresh tubers to easier removal of the impurities and obtain the high purity of glucomannan. The highest obtained glucomannan was determined its functional groups using Fourier Transform Infrared (FTIR). The highest glucomannan content was derived in tubers taken at dormant compared to before and after dormant. FTIR spectra confirmed the presence of functional groups that compose the glucomannan compound.

No abstract

Glucomannan is a polysaccharide consisting of β-1.4-linked D-mannose and D-glucose monomers, which have many benefits especially in the food and pharmaceutical industry. It has been widely reported that one of the main sources of glucomannan is porang tuber (Amorphophallus muelleri Blume). Generally, glucomannan extracted or purified from porang flour. However, the drying process causes other compounds than glucomannan stick strongly, resulting low levels of glucomannan. This study was to obtain glucomannan extract in an easy, effective, and inexpensive method, by direct extraction from fresh porang tubers using ethanol technical grade. We performed two extraction methods. The first is a fixed concentration method, the sample was repeatedly extracted using 50% ethanol (FC50) and 96% ethanol (FC96) 3 times, respectively. The second is a multilevel concentration method, the sample was repeatedly extracted using ethanol 60% (first step), 80% (second step), and 96% (third step), one replication each step. The highest glucomannan content (66.56%) was obtained by a multilevel concentration method. Moisture, lipid, protein, crude fiber, calcium oxalate level significantly reduce to 13.58%, 0.07%, 4.03%, 4.95%, 0.56% respectively. FTIR spectra confirmed the presence of functional groups (O-H, C=O, C-O, C-H), that compose the glucomannan compound. SEM image showed that the granules form of glucomannan were round and oval, began to change its phase from amorphous to crystalline, related to XRD data. The results showed that the direct extraction from fresh porang tuber using ethanol technical grade with a multilevel concentration method was an effective method to extract the glucomannan

Moringa oleifera is a plant that has many benefits in each part. Moringa seeds have high nutrient content but they have not been used as food ingredients because it contains cyanigenic glycoside and a bitter taste. This study aims to obtain the best method in eliminating the bitter taste and cyanide of moringa seeds, analyzing its proximate nutritional levels and antioxidant capacity, and the level of acceptance when it’s applied to cookie products. This study used different types of soaking solution (water, 3.5% NaCl, 1N CH3COOH solution, and 0.5% NaHCO3) and boiling temperature (70°C, boiling water temperature (± 97°C), and pressure boiling (±115°C)). Flour with NaHCO3 immersion treatment continued by pressurized boiling for 35 minutes was chosen to be the best flour because it had the lowest cyanide content, reduced bitter taste, and the highest FRAP (Ferric Reducing Antioxidant Power) values (33.40±1.22 mg/kg; 3.40±1.24 mg/kg; and 58.70±2.67 mg AEAC/g) compared with untreated moringa seed flour (152.15±0.95 mg/kg ;10.29±2.92 mg/kg; and 17.43±1.22 mg AEAC/g). The selected flour was used as a substitute for flour (0%, 10%, 20%, and 30%) in cookies making. Sensory hedonic rating analysis on cookies used 60 untrained panelists. Substitution up to 30% overall did not have a significant difference in acceptance compared to control (0%) except for color attribute. Keywords: bitter, cyanide, Moringa oleifera, functional food, moringa seed flour

The aim of this research was to determine the nutrient content, antioxidant activity and the sensory characteristics of functional powder from pumpkin (Cucurbita moschata) and tempeh. The formula was consists of 15% pumpkin flesh powder, 35% pumpkin seed powder, and 50% powder tempeh. The nutritional component was determined by proximate and spectrophotometric analysis, DPPH (2,2-diphenyl-1picrylhidrazyl) assay for antioxidant activity, and the sensory characteristics was analyzed by 39 semitrained panelists using 3 types of beverage i.e water, orange juice and milk. The results showed that the functional powder contained 6.84±0.09% moisture, 3.18±0.