The effect of blanching and foam mat drying on the physico-chemical characteristics of white sweet potato (Ipomoea batatas L.) inulin
White sweet potato (Ipomoea batatas L.) is one of the tubers that have the potential to produce inulin and largely abundant in Indonesia. Several factors can affect the physical and chemical characteristics of inulin including the preliminary treatment and the drying method. The purpose of this study was to determine the effect of blanching and foam mat drying method on the physical and chemical characteristics of white sweet potato inulin. The physical and chemical characteristics evaluated include solubility, total sugar, sugar reductions, discussed inulin and inulin molecular weight. The experimental design in this study used a Completely Randomized Design (CRD) with two factors, namely blanching and differences in egg white composition (2%; 6%; and 10%). The data were processed statistically using One-Way ANOVA with a significance level of 5%. The results showed that blanching and foam mat drying can affect the yield, solubility, water absorption, moisture content, and molecular weight of inulin. The blanched and unblanched samples with an increase in albumen concentration will reduce the yield, moisture content and molecular weight and increase solubility and water absorption. All blanched formulations produced higher yield, moisture content, solubility, and water absorption than the unblanched formulation.