The determination of sugar content and sweetness index of nipa palm sugar (gula apong) of Sarawak / Kun Aqilah Marset

Nipah (or Nypa fruticans) palm tree is one of the mangrove plants that grows wildly in coastal areas. Many products could be obtained from the tree, including nipa -sap (nira), -syrup and -sugar (Gula Apong), and thus has a vast economic potential forSarawak. However, until now, these products still have low economic value probably due to lack of product characteristic and traditional processing techniques which could contribute to low yield and inconsistent quality of Gula Apong. This study aims to characterize the Gula Apong in terms of sugar content and sweetness index. In addition, the effect of white sugar/ table sugar addition and heating processes/ heat sources employed during traditional cooking process are also being investigated on these two characteristics. The traditional cooking process of Gula Apong employed in this study were based on two different heating processes/ heat sources, namely firewood (FW) and liquefied petroleum gas (LPG). Changes of the pH, temperature and Total Soluble Solid (TSS) during the traditional cooking process of Gula Apong were measured on-site at every 30 minutes interval. The sugar content was determined by using refractometric method while the sweetness index was obtained through titration method. The results revealed that sugar content increases along the cooking process using both firewood and LPG. For the sweetness index, the obtained results were LPG 15% (95.30), FW 15% (87.34), FW 0% (67.63), LPG 0% (53.81), GM (50.85) and GK (50.28). The sweetness index and sugar content of Gula Apong are found to be higher than Gula Melaka and Gula Kabong. It is hoped that this study will lead to new insights into exploring the Gula Apong potential as natural sweeteners as well as understanding the quality status of Gula Apong produced using traditional cooking techniques process.