Morinda has been used for making herbal medicine for treating several illnesses. Processed into the form of capsules and squeezed to make juice, it has been widely consumed though some people avoid its pungent smell.
The idea of incorporating Morinda extract into an enjoyable snack consumed on a daily basis was apparently interesting for these three students of the Faculty of Mathematics and Natural Sciences. They are Wulan Sari Ningsih, Purnamasari Pargusta, Wening Nurwulan, and Septika Wuri Setyo Palupi.
Ripe Morinda are choosen and then processed to get the extract. As the flesh of the ripe Morinda is very tender, it can be easily processed by soaking a ripe Morinda in 200ml of water. For less ripe Morinda, the flesh is taken and then blended with the same amount of water.
An average of 50 gram of fibre is obtained from each fruit being processed. Then, 50 grams of Morinda extract is mixed with 200ml of water, 10 grams of agar, and 125 grams of sugar. All the ingredients are then boiled and put into small cubical moulds. After colling down, the agar cubes are taken out and dried under the sunlight.
The Morinda extract gives additional fibre to the agar and the vitamin C contained in 100 grams of dried agar is as much as 61. 2379 mg in the first test, and 62. 6297 in the second test. (Yuliana)