KUALITAS EMULSI SALAD DRESSING BERBAHAN DASAR VIRGIN COCONUT OIL Emulsion Quality of Salad Dressing with Basic Material of Virgin Coconut Oil

Abstract

Virgin Coconut Oil (VCO) commonly used as functional food. It contain active components of its high lauric acid content. One way to increase consumer acceptance of VCO is by processing VCO to become other food products such as salad dressing. This research was conducted to know the quality of salad dressing made by basic material of VCO. The tested qualities of salad dressing were emulsion stability, size of emulsion droplet, oxidative stability and content of lauric acid. The emulsion stability was tested based on emulsion separation time, droplet size was by microscope, oxidative stability was measured by Rancimat technique, and lauric acid content was by gas chromatography. Based on the research results, salad dressing was made using emulsifier Tween 20 (1 %) and stabilizer guar gum 1 % possess sufficient emulsion stability, size of emulsion droplet of 1-5 µm, a sufficient oxidative stability (8,174 hours), and lauric acid retention of 97 %. Thus, salad dressing with basic material of VCO has a good quality. ABSTRAK Virgin Coconut Oil (VCO) merupakan pangan yang populer dikarenakan komponen aktif yang terkandung serta ka­ dar asam lauratnya yang tinggi. Salah satu cara meningkatkan penerimaan konsumen terhadap VCO adalah dengan mengolah VCO menjadi produk pangan lain seperti salad dressing. Penelitian ini bertujuan untuk mengetahui kualitas salad dressing yang dibuat dari bahan dasar VCO. Kualitas salad dressing yang diuji adalah stabilitas emulsi, ukuran droplet emulsi, stabilitas oksidatif serta kadar asam laurat. Stabilitas emulsi diuji berdasarkan waktu terjadinya pemi­ sahan emulsi, ukuran droplet diukur dengan mikroskop, stabilitas oksidatif diuji dengan teknik Rancimat dan kadar asam laurat ditentukan dengan kromatografi gas. Berdasarkan hasil penelitian diketahui bahwa salad dressing yang dibuat menggunakan emulsifier Tween 20 (1 %) dan stabilizer guar gum 1 % mempunyai stabilitas emulsi cukup baik, mempunyai ukuran droplet emulsi 1­5 μm, mempunyai stabilitas oksidatif cukup tinggi (8,17 jam) serta mempunyai retensi laurat sebesar 97 %. Dengan demikian salad dressing yang diolah dari bahan baku VCO mempunyai kualitas yang cukup baik.