Characteristics of flour plantain: use of fruit peels and ripening fruit stages

Abstract

Tanduk plantain cultivar is one of the famous banana types in Indonesia and can be processed into plantain flour. The use of peels in raw and ripe plantain affects the characteristics of the flour. This research evaluates changes in the physic-chemical properties (starch, amylose, dietary fiber, antioxidant activity, color), functional properties (WAI, OAI, SC, solubility, hygroscopicity),  thermal, pasting, and crystalline properties, and also FTIR spectra affected by the ripening stage and peel use. Tanduk plantain flour is made in ripening stages 1, 4, and 6 through peeling and unpeeling processes. The higher the ripening stage, the lower the starch, amylose, and dietary fiber of plantain flour, yet its antioxidant activity increases. In terms of its pasting properties, the higher the ripening stage, the lower the value of plantain flour's peak viscosity, breakdown viscosity, and setback viscosity. Meanwhile, the unpeeled plantain flour has higher starch, amylose, dietary fiber, antioxidant activity, breakdown viscosity, and setback viscosity but lower T_O and T_P values. The Tanduk plantain flour in the ripening stages 1, 4, and 6 through the peeling and unpeeling process has the same crystalline properties (type C) and functional group in structure. The physicochemical, pasting, and crystalline properties of plantain flour at each ripening stage through the peeling or unpeeling process allow better selection depending on the industrial application.