Development of Etlingera elatior pearl for drinks and cocktail

Abstract Herbs such as Etlingera elatior (torch ginger flower) is well known in Malaysia and one of the main sources of phytochemicals with strong antioxidant activity. A recent study is done to develop herbs into new confectionery products, pearls in drinks and cocktails. In this research, the screening process is done to select the best pearl formulation, which described the desired viscosity and pH. The mixture variables are different types of starch (xanthan gum, modified cassava flour, hanjeli flour, and modified suweg flour). Five out of 20 pearl formulations are chosen for texture profile, antioxidant analysis, and sensory analysis. The result shows pearl formulation 2 (467.62 g force) has the highest hardness of the pearl, while the stickiest is pearl formulation 4 (-9.24 g force). The pearl formulation 2 has the highest antioxidant capacity when tested with TPC (6.61 μgGAE/ml), TFC (177.42 μgRE/ml) and ABTS (56.74 %). Contradict to this result, the highest DPPH antioxidant properties are pearl formulation 1 (69.98 %). The sensory analysis by 9-point hedonic scale result shows that the average mean of overall acceptance is formulation 2.