KARAKTERISTIK EDIBLE FILM BERBASIS GEL BUAH OKRA (Abelmoschus esculentus L) DENGAN PENAMBAHAN CMC (CARBOXY METHYL CELLULOSE) DAN GLISEROL

The gel found in okra fruit is a long-chain hydrocolloid polysaccharide
which can be used as a stabilizer in edible films. Previous study showed
that addition of cmc and glyserol 0.50 % : 0.75 % in edible film based on
okra fruit gel resulted 24.83 MPa of tensile strength and moderate
elongation (18.09 %). Meanwhile, cmc is used to improve the tensile
strength and elongation of edible film and glycerol as a plasticizer. So it
need to reformulate between cmc and glycerol by increasing its
concentration. The aim of this research is to access the characteristic of
edible films based on okra fruit gel due to the increase of cmc and glycerol
concentration more than 1 %, in order to produce edible films
characteristic that meet standards. The results showed that the treatment of
cmc 3 % and glycerol 1.5 % produced edible films that met the standards
with 0.17 mm of thickness, 31.62 % of solubility, 1.07 A546/mm of
transparency, 19.56 MPa of tensile strength, and 3.31 g/m2/24h of WVTR.
More over, the elongation in this treatment obtained up to 186 %. Thus, the
edible film of this treatment has great potential as an alternative to food
packaging.