Combining Coffee and Pumpkin as a Jam
(UKWMS-13/9/2018) – The Indonesian society is inseparable from the culture of coffee consumption in everyday life. Some people make coffee as part of their breakfast routine menu. Consuming coffee during this time is generally limited to the use of brewing with hot water in a cup, or as a coffee candy, as well as a flavor in cake. Similarly, pumpkin is limited in its processing, which is only used as a vegetable ingredient in food, even though pumpkin has good nutrition for the body. Presently, the rapid development of technology and time makes all things instantaneous, including the availability of processed food.
Seeing this, under the guidance of Ir. Thomas Indarto Putut Suseno., MP., four students from the Faculty of Agricultural Technology, Department of Food Technology, Widya Mandala Catholic University of Surabaya (UKWMS FTP) initiated a new innovation combining coffee and pumpkin ingredients to make a jam. The four students are Jane Nathania, Carolina Hendrianto, Alvina Handoyo, and Lovina Aprilia Sugianto. They made coffee jam using four types of pumpkins: cabocha, pumpkin, yellow pumpkin, and kabocha pumpkin. “Now the era is instant, it turns out that quite a lot of people don’t have the time to brew and sip a cup of coffee for breakfast. So that we present it in the form of jam. It is practical because it has the effect of filling up and increasing awareness (fighting sleepiness). In addition, the nutritional value of jam is also increased because pumpkin is rich in vitamin A, carbohydrates and other nutrients,” said Alvina.
Each student used a different pumpkin—Jane used chayote, Carolina used water pumpkin, Alvina used yellow pumpkin; and Lovina using kabocha pumpkin. The processing method is relatively easy. First of all, the pumpkin is chosen and it has to be one with visibly no damage. Then, the pumpkin needs to be washed thoroughly with running water and cut into small sizes to facilitate the steaming process. The pumpkin pieces are then steamed for about 15 minutes to become soft.
The next step is to mix the steamed pumpkin with other ingredients, including the coffee. Then the mix is cooked for 10 minutes until a thick jam is obtained. Finally, the mixed pumpkin and coffee jam is put in a jar for packaging in which case the jar has been previously washed and boiled in boiling water. “All of the pumpkins that we use grow locally in Indonesia, whereas the coffee is a robusta local coffee in the form of instant powder or plain ground coffee,” explained Jane.
Combining coffee and pumpkin into a jam requires its own technique in order to obtain the desired form of jam. Based on the raw material of the selected pumpkin and the mixture being used, even the taste produced will also vary. “The characteristics of each pumpkin are different, both in terms of the height of the water content and the pH level. For the taste produced from the four jams, there are sweet, fresh, creamy and strong coffee flavors. We have tested each variant of this product with 120 panelists to find out whether this jam can be accepted in the market or not, and we found out that each one of them had their own preference,” Lovina said.
These products that they produced with the name Konvyt are unique and also relatively healthy because of the natural ingredients, richness in fiber and vitamins, and absence of preservative chemicals. They have also proven that the jam they make can last for two months if stored in a refrigerator and about a week at the room temperature. “We want Konvyt to be available in a mass production someday so that it can be enjoyed by the wider community, but it still has to be further investigated, including how to manage its patent,” Carolina said. (red1 / Red)