IPB Student Creates Golden Sugar Syrup
Although it has existed since the Dutch colonial period, the fate of the Indonesian sugar industry is not as sweet as its product. Many issues continue to plague the national sugar industry, ranging from aging factories, reduced sugarcane fields, farm inefficiency and low productivity to a flood of cheap imported sugar due to poor market regulation. Total sugar consumption in Indonesia estimate to 5.6 MMT per year, while domestic sugar production is only 2 million tons per year, and the rest of Indonesia depends on imports. The condition is very worrying about the stability of the economy and the food security of Indonesia. Artificial sweeteners are increasingly popular as an alternative to sugar. Sugar alternative products have been developed in Indonesia are ant sugar from sugar cane or brown sugar from palm juice and coconut. However, this type of sugar is less applicable than all other sweetener for food products. Therefore, other alternative sugar products are really needed
Sugar for sorghum syrup or golden sugar syrup produced by Ahib Assadam, student of the Agroindustrial Technology Study Program, of School of the Graduate Studies, of Bogor Agricultural University (SPS IPB), is very potential to be used as alternative sugar product. As cereals plants, sorghum has a multiuse benefits. In addition, the seeds used as food, stems and leaves for fodder, the sugar contained in the seeds can be processed into sugar. Moreover, the content of glucose and fructose of sorghum syrup is also higher than the content of glucose and fructose sugar cane juice. The sorghum syrup is very high in calorie content. About ¼ cup of the syrup has 239 calories and amount to as much as 61 g of sugar. Only, sorghum juice is very murky and can damage the colour of food when they are used immediately without the process of purification.
To respond such problem the student of Bogor Agricultural University, who was born Banyuwangi, under the supervision of Prof. Suprihatin and Dr Titi Candra Sunarti, Ahib carried out the research project on the purification process of sorghum sap. In his study he added dextranase in concentrated syrup and use the activated charcoal to remove syrup impurities, and reduce the color according to the recommendation of The International Commission for Uniform of Sugar Analysis (ICUMSA).
The addition of dextranase 0.80 UD / g and activated charcoal 30.8 mg / g is capable to produce golden sugar syrup, with 7.84% reduced sugar content and 63.49% total sugarGolden Syrup is a very pleasant tasting thick syrup with a rich unique flavour. It is a byproduct of the refining of cane sugar, has a mineral content such as Cu, Mg, and Fe. Several health benefits have been attributed to those mineral and trace element content.
Innovation of sugar products developed by a team of researchers from IPB is very prospective, they are fairly simple technology for the clearing of sorghum juice into golden sugar syrup. So it is possible to be applied in sugar factories that operate today.
Ahib expected that his invention will be published more widely and massively for the utilization by stakeholders, especially sugar producers, so they might be interested and adopt the technology. "In the long term, the invention is expected to reduce the dependence of sugar imports," Ahib continued. (Wied)
