Production of Nata from Some Tropical Fruits and Coconut Water

Production of Nata from Some Tropical Fruits and Coconut Water

Turhadi, Mafruhatun N, Niken Candra B, Tria Irma M, dan Tri Ardyati

Biology Department, Faculty of Mathematics and Natural Sciences, Brawijaya University, Indonesia

Abstract

Fermented food becomes popular in recent years. One of the fermented food product is nata, a polymer used as source of cellulose which produced by Acetobacter xylinum. The objectives of this research was to produce nata from coconut water and some tropical fruits: pineapples, watermelon and Aloevera. Each raw materials was extracted using blender/juicer the filtered through a filter cloth. One liter of fruit juice from each raw materials were boiled at 100 ˚C for 15 minutes. After the solution reached at room temperature, 75 g of sugar and 75 ml of acetic acid were added, stirred and poured into a container the incubated ata room temperature for 3 weeks. Parameters observed were the thickness of nata or cellulose formation and pH. The highest formation of nata was affected by sugar content and pH of rawa materials. It was shown that the thickness of nata from watermelon was higher than others, reached 0.65 cm.

Keywords: Aloevera, nata, pineapple, watermelon