Consumer Acceptance on Dried Torch Ginger Flower (Etlingera elatior) as Food Ingredient

Torch ginger flower, known as Etlingera elatior is a species of herbaceous perennial herbs plant. It belongs to the family of Zingiberaceae such as galangal, curcumin, and turmeric. Besides, it also has avdifferent color such as red, pink and white. Torch ginger flower can be found throughout tropical South East Asia such as Malaysia, Thailand, and Philippine. Torch ginger flower is edible, flavorful and contains good aroma. It is one of the herbs and plant is being used a long time ago by the community in the dishes such as in ‘Assam laksa’. It usually uses as an addition in ingredient to give taste, color and also aroma. The rainy season is a suitable season for the torch ginger flower to be growth. This is due to the torch ginger flower is always required humid condition and cannot expose to dry condition for a long time, make it withered easily. On the other hand, torch ginger flower cannot expose to the room temperature for a long time because of the shelf life of torch ginger flower is short without preservation. Drying is one of the best ways which can extend the shelf life. The
temperature used in the drying process is 40oC, 50°C, 60°C and 70°C. The torch ginger flowers were dried until reach the constant weight. The results show that the temperature
influences the weight, moisture loss, color, and aroma of the dried torch ginger flower. Sensory evaluation is conducted for 80 respondents to find out the consumer acceptance of dried torch ginger as food ingredient.