The effect of different sweetener on physical and sensory characteristic of Wedang Uwuh, an Indonesian traditional drink

Abstract

Wedang uwuh, a traditional Indonesian drink, made from various herbs and spices which are red in color and have a sweet and spicy taste. In general, wedang uwuh uses rock sugar as a sweetener. Rock sugar contain high concentration of sucrose that can increase diabetes risk factor. Therefore, it requires to substitute rock sugar with other alternative sugar with low calorie. This study aims to develop low-calorie wedang uwuh and characterize their physical characteristics including viscosity, color, and sensory evaluation. Five formulations of wedang uwuh was studied in this research including P0 (rock sugar); P1 (palm sugar); P2 (stevia 0.5%); P3 (stevia 1%); P4 (1.5%). The result showed that different types of sweeteners in the wedang uwuh formulation affect the viscosity, color, and sensory analysis. The use of palm sugar (P1) in wedang uwuh showed the highest viscosity. The use of rock sugar and palm sugar in the Wedang Uwuh formulation showed significant color differences in both the lightness level (L*), a∗ value (redness/greenness), and c∗ value (yellowness/blueness). The results showed that samples with rock sugar (P0) showed the highest hedonic score as compared to that of other samples. However, the samples with 0.5% concentration of stevia (P2) showed the lowest score on the hedonic test.