Understanding the effect of sugar concentration on the color properties of Nata de Pina using chemometric analysis

Abstract Generally, the color of the produced Nata de Pina was found to be brown, which might be due to excess sugar. This research aimed to determine the influence of the concentration of sugar on the color of produced Nata de Pina. The Nata was produced with addition of 5, 10, and 15 % (w/v) of sugar. Produced Nata de Pina was finally dried in an oven at 60°C. As a result, the color of all treated Nata was slightly brown. The color characteristics and sugar residues of the data were then observed by colory meter hunter lab and FTIR spectroscopy. Data analysis was done by chemometric technique utilizing PCA analysis. By chemometric analysis, it can be observed that there was only slight clusterization in the spread of chemical substances in the nata according to the concentration of sugar. It can be suggested that the excess sugar did not cause the browning. A hypothesis can be proposed that in the liquid of pineapple waste, some phenolics existed that produced melamine. Therefore, it was not easy to produce a white Nata de Pina without bleaching treatment since the existence of phenolic might cause the browning reaction.