KAJIAN MUTU FISIK TEPUNG AMPAS KELAPA (Cocos nucifera L.) HASIL PENGERINGAN OVEN MICROWAVE

Abstract

Coconut (Cocos nucifera L.) is a very useful plantation crop. Coconut meat can be utilized as coconut milk. The waste produced from squeezing coconut fruit is coconut pulp. The community only utilizes coconut pulp as raw material for animal feed which has less value. So there is an effort to process coconut pulp into flour to increase its economic value. The purpose of this study was to measure the physical quality of coconut pulp flour from microwave oven drying and analyze the effect of drying power and duration of flouring on physical quality. The material used was fresh coconut pulp. This study used the complete randomized design (CRD) method with variable drying power used, namely 414 Watt (Medium), 564 Watt (Medium High) and 712 Watt (High) and the duration of pressing, namely 15, 17 and 19 minutes. The dried and ground coconut pulp was then sieved with an 80 mesh sieve. The variables used for physical quality measurement are particle size distribution/fineness level, color, bulk density, pile angle, water absorption and oil absorption. Physical quality data of the measurement results were analyzed using two-way ANOVA test, then Duncan's further test and Pearson correlation test. The results of the drying process produced a final moisture content value of 1.48%-2.95% and a yield of 15,43%-19,95%. Coconut pulp flour has a fineness value of 1.23-1.82, particle size diameter of 0.010-0.015, brightness level of 89.05-90.44, redness level of 0.32-0.66, yellowness level of 1, 88-4.78, degree of whiteness of 88.39-90.00, bulk density of 0.22-0.27 g/cm³, pile angle of 36.03°-38.85°, water absorption of 3.69-4.96 ml/g, and oil absorption of 1.21-2.31 ml/g. Based on statistical analysis, the physical quality of coconut pulp flour influenced by drying power is the variable degree of fineness, size diameter, degree of whiteness, degree of brightness, degree of yellowness and pile angle. Meanwhile, those affected by the duration of pressing were the variables of degree of fineness, size diameter, degree of whiteness, degree of brightness and pile angle.