Pengaruh pretreatments pada pengeringan cabai merah (Capsicum annuum L.) dengan mesin pengering tipe rak (tray dryer)

Abstract

Chili is a perishable fruit, so it needs to be done post-harvest processing such as pickling in order to minimize the damage and to ensure its availability when there is shortage. It can increase the value-added and income for people, especially farmers and entrepreneurs. This study was conducted to investigate the effect of pretreatments on the drying of red chili by tray dryer. Pretreatments of the red chili were subjected to different cleavages, such as: blanching, without cutting chili (A1); blanching, cutting at the base of chili (A2); blanching, cutting at the tip of chili (A3); blanching, cleavage of the longitudinal direction of chili (A4); blanching, cutting at the tip, at the base, and cleavage of the longitudinal direction of chili (A5). As a control, used chili without blanching and cutting chili (A0). The parameters of this study is the rate of drying, water content (AOAC, 1984), vitamin C (Jacobs, 1958), total acid (AOAC, 1990), carotenoids (Ranggana, 1977), and organoleptic of color and spicy. Experiments showed that pretreatments affect the rate of drying, carotenoids, and organoleptic of color, but did not affect water content, vitamin C, total acid, and organoleptic of spicy (α=0.05 and α=0.01). The results of the drying rate suggest A5 is the most significant effect. The results of the carotenoids suggest A3 is the most significant effect. The results of the organoleptic of color suggest A3 is the best treatments for panelist.