Green grass jelly edible coating maintains shelf life of sapota fruit (Manilkara zapota)

Abstract

Sapota is one of fruits with short period of shelf life. One of techniques to extend sapota's shelf life is edible coating. Currently, hydrocolloid green grass jelly combining with sodium alginate was used and evaluated to determine its effect on the shelf life of sapota fruit. Coating was done using two different concentration of green grass jelly, 0.2% and 0.4% and no treatment as a control treatment. Coated sapota were stored at room temperature and evaluated every day, including weight loss, colour change, firmness, total acidity, total soluble solid, and reducing sugar. The result showed that 0.4% green grass jelly treatment significantly (p>0.05) inhibit fruit softness, colour change during storage and fruit decay compared to control treatment. The coating fruits delayed the increase in total soluble solid as compared to control fruits. At the end, edible coating treatments extended its shelf life by 2 days compare with the control. The result suggest that green grass jelly effectively maintains the quality of postharvest sapota fruits.