Production process and its influence on the quality of palm sugar from various regions in South Sulawesi

Palm sugar is one of the Non Timber Forest Products (NTFPs) that have high economic value. The quality of palm sugar is one of the important factors that affected the success of the palm sugar business and this quality is determined by the raw materials and the production process. This research aims were to evaluate the quality of palm sugar produced in various regions in South Sulawesi and to analysis the factors that affected their quality. To achieve these aims, the sample of palm sugar product were collected from Maros, Bone, Sidrap and Sinjai Regencies and then all the samples evaluated their quality at The Makassar Plantation Product Industrial Office (Balai Besar Industri Hasil Perkebunan) according to Indonesian National Standard of Palm Sugar (SNI Gula Palma) No. 01-3743-1995. In addition, the production process of the palm sugar in every area also observed and recorded. The results show that the quality of all palm sugar produced from all regencies mostly meets the standard, except palm sugar from Sinjai Regency due to it is exceeding the maximum value of lead (Pb) content. Moreover, production process and the tools used by the community in these areas in general are the same. The production process of palm sugar begins with tapping the sap in the morning and evening. Furthermore, the sap is cooked for approximately 6-8 hours until the sap thickens and is ready to be molded. The tools used in this process such as pans, straw, sieves, molding tools in the form of coconut shells and wooden molds in the form of bricks, and firewood as fuel. Natural preservatives applied to inhibit the fermentation on the sap, locally known as tappajeng root and garcinia leaves. Therefore, it can be concluded that the production process which is almost the same in each region causes the quality of the palm sugar also almost the same and meets the quality of palm sugar in accordance with Indonesian National Standard of Palm Sugar (SNI Gula Palma).


Introduction
Arenga pinnata or sugar palm is a non-timber forest product (NTFP) commodity that has high economic value and is used as a livelihood by communities living around forest areas [1].The development of the sugar palm as an agribusiness commodity did not take place quickly because the palm plant still grows naturally and has not been cultivated [2,3].One of the palm derivative products that have the highest economic value are palm sap which is used as raw material for palm sugar production [4].Palm sugar is processed from sap through the cooking process.The quality of palm sap is easily damaged after tapping because of it is easy to fermentation and change in pH to become acidic due to microbial activity [5].The sap with lower in pH cannot be used as a raw material for sugar production because the sugar will not crystallize [6].In addition, sap also contains organic acids such as malic, ascorbic acid, lactic 1230 (2023) 012168 IOP Publishing doi:10.1088/1755-1315/1230/1/012168 2 acid, acetic acid, citric acid, pyroglutamic acid, and fumaric acid which play a role in the formation of flavour in brown sugar [7].
The use of palm sugar in daily life is generally as raw material for bake, cook and drink production.Palm sugar has many advantages when compared to sugar cane, palm sugar has a more diverse nutritional content, antioxidant properties, a low glycemic index, and good benefits for health [8].Palm sugar contains compounds such as polyphenols [9,10], anti-oxidant that are higher than sugar cane where activity is equivalent to 1.7 mg of vitamin C per 1 g of palm sugar [11].[12] states that consuming white crystal sugar actually is the same as consuming calories that have no nutritional benefits, this is because the nutritional content in white crystal sugar is very low.
The potential of palm plant in Indonesia reaches 60,482 ha with palm sugar production of 20,376 tons/year.Meanwhile, the potential of palm plant in South Sulawesi is 7,293 hectares with palm sugar production of 31,174 tons/year [13,14].According to Ministry of Health Regulation (Permenkes) Number 30 of 2013 concerning the Inclusion of Information on Sugar, Salt, and Fat Content and Health Messages on Processed Foods and Ready-to-Eat Foods, the recommended consumption of sugar/per person/day is 50 grams, thus sugar consumption per person/year is 18,250 kg/year person/year.Based on BPS data for 2020, Indonesia's population is 270.20 million people, so the Indonesian people's need for sugar is 4,931,150 tons/per year.Meanwhile, based on data from the Indonesian Sugar Association [15] the national sugar production is 2.2 million to 2.5 million tons, so there is a deficit of 2.5 -2.8 million tons.
According to Indonesian National Standard of Palm Sugar (SNI 01-3743-1995), a quality standard for palm sugar in Indonesia, palm sugar is a sugar produced from the palm sap processing, namely aren (Arenga piñata Merr), nipah (Nypafruticans), siwalan (Borassua flagelliform Linn) and coconut (Cocos nucifera).Linn).One of the factors that causes of the slower development of the palm sugar business is the lack of quality which does not meet the SNI standards.Palm sugar product is easily moldy and melts.In addition, the hygiene of palm sugar is still very lack and there are some craftsmen use other additives in their products, such as candlenut, grated coconut or cooking oil during the cooking process.The palm sugar production process is generally carried out by small-scale production and households in a traditional way in rural areas.Critical factors in the production of palm sugar are the quality of the sap, cooking and packaging [16].
The quality of sugar is largely determined by the preparation of the tapping, the handling of the sap after the tapping, the cooking and packaging processes of the product.Each region in South Sulawesi have its own way in the processing of palm sugar based on their local knowledge.This is a factor that causes variations in the quality of the palm sugar produced in these regions.Therefore, it is very important to know the quality of palm sugar produced from various regions in South Sulawesi and the production process in each region.Hence the purposes of this study were to evaluate the quality of palm sugar produced in various regions in South Sulawesi and to analysis the factors that affected their quality.

Study site
This research was conducted at the Unhas Campus and at the Makassar Plantation Product Industry Center to evaluated the quality of palm sugar.All of palm sugar samples collected from Maros, Bone, Sidrap, and Sinjai Regency.

Production process
The production process of palm sugar in each region mostly the same.In Bone Regency, craftsman tap the sap twice a day, namely in the morning and evening.To prevent of fermentation, craftsman add the preservatives namely tappajeng root to the tapping container.The sap is then cooked using firewood in a frying pan.During cooking, the sap must be stirred occasionally using a straw and the foam that appears should remove using a sieve.The foam will darken the color of the sugar and also make the sugar dirty.The craftsman using fine candle nut into the sap to prevent the foam overflowing.When the sap starts to thicken, we should to stir it more often to prevent the sugar from burning.If the sap is thick, then it is formed using a mold from a coconut shell and after the sugar is solid, it is packaged using dry banana leaves.
As well as the production process in Bone Regency, all the stage of the process is similar in other regions.The only difference is in the use of preservatives, mold and packaging used.As described previously about the material used in each region, in Sinjai Regency the craftsman also uses preservative tappajeng root and to prevent foam overflowing, their use fine candle nut or grated coconut.The sugar then mold in coconut shell form and packed with dry teak leaves or dry chocolate leaves.Moreover, in Sidrap Regency, the craftsman uses preservative garcinia leave, jackfruit wood extract and lime water, and fine candle nut or grated coconut or cooking oil to avoid foam overflowing.Sugar molded in wooden box form and packed with dry teak leaves or dry banana leaves.Likewise, with Maros Regency, the craftsman also uses preservative garcinia leave, use fine candle nut or grated coconut to prevent foam overflowing, mold in wooden box and packed with dry banana leaves or plastics.

Data analysis
Palm sugar quality testing is carried out in accordance with the testing standards required in SNI Palma Sugar Number 01-3743-1995.The stages of each test are as follows: a. Condition (shape, taste and aroma), according to SNI 01-2891-1992 b.Sample preparation for chemical tests, according to SNI 01-2891-1992 c.The part that is not soluble in water, according to SNI 01-2891-1992 d.Test method for water content, in accordance with SNI 01-2891-1992 e. Test method for ash content, in accordance with SNI 01-2891-1992 f.Reducing Sugar, according to SNI 01-2892-1992 g.The amount of sugar as saccharose, according to SNI 01-2892-1992 h.Metal contamination test, according to SNI 19-2896-1992 i. Test for arsenic levels, according to SNI 19-2896-1992

Results and discussion
Based on the research that has been done, the following results are obtained:

Quality of palm sugar form various region in South Sulawesi
The quality requirements for brown sugar have been determined according to SNI 01-3743-1195 with 15 parameters used.The quality requirements for brown sugar according to SNI 01-3743-1995 can be seen in the following table.The production process of palm sugar which is carried out traditionally has several main factors in the success of making sugar, namely the quality of the sap, cooking, and packaging.Apart from that, there are also several inhibiting factors in the manufacture of sugar such as limitations in processing technology, production facilities, and processing processes [17].The results of the quality evaluation of palm sugar from various regions in South Sulawesi as can be seen in the table below.Based on the evaluation results in Table 2, it can be seen that all palm sugar products almost meet the standard, except the product from Sinjai, because of the content of lead (Pb) exceeding the standard.Heavy metal content in food can accumulate in the kidney, liver, nails, adipose tissue, and hair [18,19].Lead absorption in the body is very slow, resulting in accumulation and becomes the basis of progressive poisoning.Lead poisoning causes high levels of lead in the aorta, liver, kidneys, pancreas, lungs, bones, spleen, testes, heart and brain [20].
Parameters of water content and ash content for the two sugar products from various regions in South Sulawesi comply with SNI 01-3743-1995 Standard.The higher the water content in a material, the higher the risk of material damage caused by bacteria, microbes, fungi, or chemical processes that may occur such as oxidation.In palm sugar, the water content can affect the texture of the sugar.The higher water content of palm sugar will cause the hardness and shelf life of brown sugar to decrease [21].
The test value for the highest ash content parameter was obtained from Maros palm sugar products with a value of 1.72.Ash content is a determining factor in the quality of palm sugar.High ash content will reduce the quality of the sugar.The ash content can be affected by the mineral content of a material, the processing process, and the preservatives used.
The results of observations on the parameters of reducing sugars in the Bone, Sinjai, and Maros regions have met the SNI standards.The reducing sugar parameter with the highest quality testing value comes from Maros palm sugar products with a value of 6.33.Reducing sugars are a class of carbohydrates that can reduce electron acceptor compounds.Reducing sugar can affect the crystallization process of sugar.The higher the reducing sugar content in a sugar substance, the more it will inhibit the sugar crystallization process [22].Likewise, if the reducing sugar content is low, it will speed up the process of crystallization of the sugar so that it is possible to process it into palm sugar.All monosaccharides such as glucose, fructose, and galactose, and disaccharides such as lactose and maltose, except for sucrose and starch are included as reducing sugars [23].Reducing sugar indicates the length of the cooking process.Sugar is a component that is easily decomposed at high temperatures.At high temperatures, the process of hydrolysis of sucrose will occur into the constituent monomers, namely glucose and fructose [24].High temperatures can increase the rate of inversion of sucrose into reducing sugars [25].The lower the value of reducing sugar, the better the quality of the sugar.Reducing sugar levels will affect the hardness, color, and taste of sugar where the lower the reduced sugar content the more yellowish brown the color of the sugar is, conversely if the higher the reduced sugar content the darker the color of the sugar, this is due to the Maillard reaction (browning), which produces a brown compound in sugar.Saccharose inversion will lead to reduced yields and low water content in the final product whereas saccharose inversion can result in low production yields, high reducing sugar content, and low water content [26].
The sucrose content in palm sugar products originating from various regions in South Sulawesi such as Maros, Sinjai, and Bone does not yet meet SNI Standard 01-3743-1995.Saccharose is a type of complex sugar consisting of a combination of several monosaccharides so the results of this test also obtain a considerable value.The maximum value for the sucrose parameter is 77.0 while the sucrose value produced by palm sugar originating from Sinjai, Bone, and Maros is in the range of 81-82 so it exceeds the maximum value in SNI 01-3743-1995.
The Lead (Pb) parameter in testing palm sugar products from Bone and Maros complies with SNI 01-3743-1995 standards with a test result value below 2.0.Meanwhile, palm sugar products originating from Sinjai do not meet the SNI 01-3743-1995 standards because they exceed the maximum value with a test result value of 7.2486.Parameters Zinc (Zn) and Arsenic (As) in testing sugar products from Sinjai, Bone, and Maros meet the SNI 01-3743-2995 standard with a test value below 40.0.

The influence of the production process on the quality of palm sugar
The production process can affect the quality of the palm sugar, for example the tapped sap will easily fermented if it is not given a preservative in the tapping container.Palm sap that has been fermented by bacteria will have a low pH, where the quality of the palm sugar produced is largely determined by the pH of the cooked sap, if the sap pH is in the pH range of 6-7.5 then the quality of the sap is still good for processing into palm sugar [27].Natural preservatives used by palm sugar craftsmen are thought to contain tannin components which are active as antimicrobial agents, where the properties of tannins which are important as preservatives are fungicidal and inhibit surface adsorption by yeast [28,29].
The higher the heating temperature, the higher the taste organoleptic value.This is because heating inhibits the growth of microorganisms in the palm sap so that the fermentation that produces alcohol and acid gets smaller.Moreover, the higher the heating temperature, the lower the total value of palm sap microbes.This is because the heating used can kill some or all of the microorganisms, especially microorganisms that produce sucrose degrading enzymes so that sucrose levels remain high [30].

Conclusions
According to the research results above, we can conclude that: a. Palm sugar produced from four regencies in South Sulawesi mostly meet the Indonesian National Standard of Palm Sugar (SNI Gula Palma), except palm sugar from Sinjai due to it is contain Lead (Pb) content that exceeding the standard b.Production process of palm sugar in these areas are generally similar, including materials and utensils used.The difference between the regions only in the type of preservatives used, material to prevent foam overflowing, molding form and packaging materials.
Materials used in production process of palm sugar in each region are state below: c. Preservatives (garcinia leave, jackfruit wood extract and lime water) d.Candle nut or grated coconut or cooking oil e.Mold (wooden box) f.Packaging (dry banana leaves or dry teak leaves) g.Utensils (pan, straw, sieve)

Table 1 .
Requirements for the quality of brown sugar based on SNI 01-3743-1995.

Table 2 .
Quality of palm sugar produced from various regions of South Sulawesi.