Changes of Petai during drying using freeze drying method

Petai (Parkia speciosa) is a plant of the type of legumes (Fabaceae). This plant is spread in Southeast Asian countries, especially in Indonesia, which is usually consumed as fresh food. Petai production increased from 2016 to 2017 by 9.45, therefore petai is very abundant in Indonesia. Petai is known to contain sulfidic acid which is strong and easily damaged like other agricultural products. This causes a decrease in physical and chemical quality so that it can reduce consumer interest. One way to maintain the quality of agricultural products is frozen. This method is the most effective drying method. The purpose of this study was to study freeze-drying methods on the physical and chemical quality of petai seeds. The material used is petai pods that have been replaced from the skin of the aris. Petai pods are processed into dry petai. The freeze drying machine used has stainless steel with a total size of 0.7 m, width 0.5 m, and height 1 m. Drying was carried out by heating 60°C at a vacuum pressure of-73.5 cmHg. The initial air content (wet basis) produced by the thermogravimetric method with three samples averaged 83.61, after drying the air content (wet basis) decreased by 9.868. The study sample also showed physical changes using the color of three sample seeds. The mean values of colors L, a, and b before drying are 68.468;-24.123; and 35.167. After drying, the values of L, a , and b are 42.817;-21.76; and 18.977.