ANALYSIS OF THE CHANGES IN IRON AND ORGANOLEPTIC PROPERTIES OF SPINACH DURING IN LOW-TEMPTERATURE STORAGE

Abstrak

Iron is an important micro mineral for the body. Spinach is a vegetable that contain high iron, yet it withers easily. Low temperatures storage (refrigerator) can preserve vegetables including spinach to last longer. This study examined the changes in the iron content and organoleptic properties of spinach stored at low temperatures and determined the recommended duration of low-temperature storage for spinach. This experimental study was carried out using a non-factorial Completely Randomized Design (CRD). Spinach was stored in a refrigerator at temperature set between 5°C–10°C with different treatments: (B0) without storage, (B1) 1 day storage, (B2) 2 days storage, (B3) 3 days of storage and (B4) 4 days of storage. The experiment was carried out in 3 repetitions. The iron content was analyzed using atomic absorption spectrophotometer (SAA) and organoleptic properties were tested in hedonic testing. Data analysis was conducted by using the Analysis of Variance (ANOVA) method and was followed by a Duncan test with α = 5% if there was a significant difference between treatments. The results showed that storage at low temperatures (5°C–10°C) decreased the iron content of spinach from by 9.20% from 4.02 mg/100 grams to 3.65 mg/100 grams with p-value 0.000 (p value 0.005) and the organoleptic properties of color was 4.1 (like it) and appearance was 3.8 (like it).