Porang (Amorphophallus muelleri Blume): Nutritious Food from The Forest Indonesia | 05/09/2021

Amorphophallus muelleri, locally called porang or iles kuning, is one of potential glucomannan source in Indonesia. They are prevalent as flour forms and could be used for various utilization, such as for food, industry, and health products. In Indonesia, Porang plants are widely planted by the community and managed by Perum Perhutani across East Java,such as Jember, Nganjuk, Padangan, Saradan, Bojonegoro and Madiun. Porang (Amorphophallus muelleri Blume) is one of non-timber forest products that has the potential to be developed due to various advantages in terms of cultivation and processing.

Porang tubers from Indonesia have fine fibrous and yellowish tuber. Porang plants as well as other tuber plants also contain carbohydrates, fats, mineral proteins, vitamins, calcium oxalate crystals, alkaloids and food fiber. Carbohydrates are an important component of porang tubers consisting of starch, crude fiber glucomannan and reducing sugars. When compared with other relatives, the glucomannan content in porang is higher than the others.

Besides being known to be rich in fiber, results of the study indicate that porang was high in calcium (Ca) and iron (Fe). Calcium content of porang flour reaches 976 mg/100gr and Fe content reaches 17.8 mg /100 gr These nutrients were much higher than tapioca flour and palm sugar sago flour. Nutritional content of Ca and Fe in food are needed in handling stunting and anemia. Anemia which caused by iron (Fe) deficiency also triggers chronic energy deficiency in pregnant women. This energy deficiency triggers high maternal mortality rate in Indonesia.

Research activities of porang have been carried out by Forest Products Research and Development Center (ForPro) since 2015 to 2017. The research was increasing glucomannan level by multilevel washing using ethanol. Nutritional characterization of porang flour (glucomannan flour) and food products such as noodles, cookies and stick of porang have been made. Results indicate that the nutrients of porang flour (Ca, Fe, and protein) were higher compared to tapioca flour and palm sugar sago flour.

The potential of Porang to be planted in the forest among other stands shows that the forest as a food source needs to be preserved. In the current pandemic, where nutritious food is needed to maintain endurance, porang is an alternative to be processed into fiber-rich food that is high in calcium and iron. Japan already consumes it as a daily food, is it in Southeast Asia where porang can grow well, has porang become one of the food choices in the community? Hopefully, we can be proud to present processed porang as a food menu on our plates. (NH)