Potential of Kalimantan White Pepper As a Raw Material for Kombucha Fermentation

¹ Research Center for Agrotropical Kalimantan, Institut Teknologi Kalimantan, 76127, Indonesia
² Departement of Food Technology, Institut Teknologi Kalimantan, 76127, Indonesia
³ Departement of Chemical Engineering, Institut Teknologi Kalimantan, 76127, Indonesia

^* Corresponding author: This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.

Abstract

Pepper can be expanded into processed products such as food and beverages. Kombucha is one of the products that can be made with pepper basic ingredients. Fermented kombucha tea has been shown to boost antioxidant activity. The presence of free phenolic substances obtained during the fermentation process causes an increase in antioxidant activity. The purpose of this study was to determine how pepper shape (powder and granule), concentration (5 and 10 g), and formulation (pepper alone and pepper coupled with black tea) affected the physicochemical properties of pepper-based kombucha. Kombucha was made by fermenting a 20% sucrose solution with a bacterial and yeast symbiotic culture (SCOBY) for 14 days. The parameters tested were pH, total sugar (°Brix), and total titratable acidity. The result of this study is the addition of 10 grams of pepper granules resulted in the lowest pH value (3.43), the lowest total sugar was in the treatment of tea pepper powder adding 10 grams (15.00) and the highest was a mixture of tea pepper powder 5 grams (17.87 Brix). The third anlaysis is total acid showed the lowest total acid value in the tea pepper granule treatment with the addition of 5 grams (70.74 %) and the highest, namely a mixture of tea. pepper granules 10 grams (94.61 %). Based on overall physicochemical characteristics, the addition of 10 g pepper granules produced the best kombucha quality. These findings indicate that white pepper has strong potential as a raw material for kombucha fermentation