Characteristics of porang edible film with the addition of citric acid as a cross-linking agent

Abstract This research objective is to specify the effect of adding citric acid with different variations of concentration on the characteristics of porang edible film. This study used porang flour as the main ingredient to produce edible film due to the composition of starch which can be gelatinized to form a film layer. However, starch content is hydrophilic hence it could produce edible film with relatively high water solubility which leads to its water resistance. This can be enhanced by adding a cross-linking agent which is citric acid that can produce a new bond so it could rectify the hydrophilic of the film. By adding citric acid, also has an effect on its tensile strength and elongation due to the new bond that produced. Therefore, porang edible film with acceptable characteristics are produced. Completely Randomized Design (CRD) including 4 treatments and 5 repetitions, is applied in this research as an experimental design. The study consisted of formulations which were divided into 4 treatments with the addition of citric acid concentrations of 0%, 5%, 10%, and 15% (by weight of dry flour). Data analysis used was Analysis of Variant (ANOVA) at 5% significance level. The results indicated that citric acid with different concentrations that were added in porang edible film significantly affected its tensile strength, elongation, solubility, and functional groups. The optimum condition for porang edible film obtained is by adding 15% (w/w) citric acid.