On Timor Island, East Nusa Tenggara, nixtamalization and pre-gelatinization were used as Bose Corn instantiation techniques

Abstract The province of East Nusa Tenggara is an archipelago province. Timor Island is one of the islands in the province of East Nusa Tenggara, where most of the population consumes corn as a staple food besides rice. The typical food on Timor Island, known since ancient times, is Bose Corn. The Bose corn cooking procedure is time-consuming and water-intensive. Timor Island is an area with dry land and a dry climate. Therefore, it is necessary to introduce technology that can shorten the cooking time by using less water. The instantiation process of bose corn using nixtamalization and pre-gelatinization methods is used as a technology to overcome this problem. The nixtamalization method using 0.4% (w/v) Ca(OH) 2 in the steeping time treatment (0, 2, 4, 6, 8, and 10 hours) showed an increase in the color components (brightness, redness, and yellowness) in a raw and cooked instant bose corn. The grain yield of instant bose corn experienced a significant increase, namely 53.63% in the treatment without steeping time (0 hours) to 72.21% in the treatment of 10 hours steeping time. Water absorption increased to 352.36% at a steeping time of 6 hours but decreased to 320.17% at 10 hours of steeping time. Instantiation of bose corn using the pre-gelatinization method with different treatments of cooking time (60, 90, 120, 150, and 180 minutes) showed almost the same brightness value in raw and cooked instant bose corn. Differences in the color components redness and yellowness are indicated by the color towards yellowish red on raw instant bose corn and the color towards yellowish green on cooked instant bose corn. The grain yield of instant bose corn in large the pre-gelatinization method decreased significantly with the cooking time, namely 91.38% at 60 minutes to 75.23% at 180 minutes. The water absorption capacity of instant bose corn has increased but not significantly. It proves that the discoloration of instant bose corn in raw and cooked conditions using nixtamalization and pre-gelatinization methods was not significantly different. The grain yields produced from these two methods have no significant difference in water absorption. Thus, these two instantiation methods can be applied to the people of the island of Timor to make instant bose corn.