Sago starch edible coating retains the organoleptic properties of non-climacteric fruits

Department of Agrotechnology, Faculty of Agriculture, Universitas Muhammadiyah Yogyakarta, Indonesia

^* Corresponding author: dewisusilo@umy.ac.id

Abstract

Non-climacteric fruits, such as cucumber, do not undergo ripening after harvested. However, other metabolic processes such as respiration and transpiration can still occur during transportation and storage. Both metabolic processes result in the decrease of moisture content in cucumber. The adverse effects on fruit with high water loss are poor appearance and shorter shelf life. Thus, postharvest treatments to avoid moisture content decline are crucial and imperative in cucumber. The present study investigated sago starch’s optimal concentration and effect as a potential edible coating in non-climacteric fruit (cucumber var. CU 699). A completely randomized design study was used with four different coating treatments: control, 5%, 7.5%, and 10% of sago starch edible coating groups. A hedonic test and color measurement were conducted to evaluate the sensory attributes of the cucumber after ten days of storage. The physicochemical properties of cucumber analyzed to assess the shelf-life include weight loss, hardness, titratable acidity, total soluble solids, and vitamin C content. Sago starch edible coating treatment showed the ability to retain the visual attributes of cucumber and a higher likeness score after the hedonic test compared to control samples.