DRYING MORINGA OLEIFERA LEAVES AS A SOURCE OF NATURAL ANTIOXIDANT

• Main Author: Ayu Harianto, Tresita
• Format: Final Project
• Language: Indonesia
• Online Access: https://digilib.itb.ac.id/gdl/view/69242
• Institution: Institut Teknologi Bandung

Moringa oleifera often referred to as The Miracle Tree because all parts of this plant (leaves, fruit, seed, flower, bark, and root) have benefits. This plant is the source of natural antioxidant, especially the leaves. Hence, moringa is a potential plant to be food additives. However, moringa leaves processing in Indonesia is not maximized and mostly used as decorative plants and animal feed because of moringa’s unique smell along with the bitterness. Drying is one of the processing that can extend moringa leaves’s shelf life. Drying moringa leaves with minimal reduction to the nutrition is much needed to take the advantage of moringa leaves’s potential. In this research, drying is done with temperature variation 45?C, 50?C, dan 55?C and thickness or feed mass with variation 1 cm or 50 gram, 1,5 cm or 75 gram, 2 cm or 100 gram. Results of this research shows that drying process with temperature within that range affect moisture content, ttoal color difference (?E), browning index (BI), and antioxidant activity. Leaves thickness within that range affect browning index. Moisture content after 5 hours of drying that fit to parameter (<10%) shows by variation 55?C at all thickness. Color that closest to the fresh leaves shows by variation 45?C 1 cm (?E 9,37). Smallest browning index value (22,74) and biggest IC50 value (75.04 ppm) shows by variation 45?C 2 cm. The most suitable mathematical model to describe drying kinetics is Page's Model with the highest R2 value and the lowest RMSE value.