SKIN bananas are often thrown away in any place. If carelessly discarded, banana peels can make people slip. However, three ITS Biology student, never underestimate the banana peel. Because after investigation proved a banana peel can not be considered trivial stuff.
"The skin of bananas which are often considered worthless stuff, it turned out to contain vitamin C, B, calcium, protein, and fat enough," said Sulfahri, one of three researchers. Looking at the ingredient that is high enough, he and two colleagues trying to make a snack of banana skin material.
"Initially, we only manufacture chips banana skin, but over time the idea arose to create starch from banana skin," he said. Students of 2007, said banana flour was finally used as raw material sponge cake. Although repeatedly failed, but they finally found the right formula to make muffins from banana peels.
"If you count more than 50 times, but we are now satisfied with a cake recipe that we have," he said. Banana peels are a match made flour is a type of plantain, because the skin is thicker than the plantains other types of bananas.
Sulfahri works and two colleagues was one of the innovative work selected in the screening for "Biological Opus Fair" held at the Plaza Dr ITS Surabaya in Figures 17 and 18 April 2008.
Eight innovative products on display are the works entitled "Utilization of Banana Fruit Leather King (Musa paradisiaca sapientum) in Bolu Cake Making Basic Materials" (the work of the Department of Biology Sulfahri ITS), and "Water Electric Light Trap (WEL-T) as a Substitute Pesticides Efforts Peningatan Environment-Friendly Food Production "(work Resti Afiandinie of Chemical Engineering Department of ITS).
Another work is the "Administrative Talok (Muntingia calabura Linn) as One Source of New Alternatives in the World of Food" (Linda Fitri Sari from Muhammadiyah University of Malang), then "Potential Suweg (Amorphophallus campanulatus Bl.) As an Alternative Food Ingredients (Exploring the Potential for Food Efforts Local) "(Riana Dyah Suryaningrum from Muhammadiyah University of Malang).
In addition there are other works, such as "Solid Waste Conversion Products Being Green" (Sulistiono Ningsih of the Biology Department at the University of Jember), "Utilization of Microalgae (Phytoplankton) as a Source of Fuel Substitution Premium" (Abdul Azis Jaziri from the Department of Fisheries at UB Malang), "Diversification Dioscorea Flour as Alternative Sources of Food" (Zainal Arifin from the Department of Biology ITS), then "Use of the fruit and leaves cersen / talok as chips and lunkhead" (Ria of Biology Department of Biological ITS).
Not unlike Sulfahri, Zaenal Arifin also try to make food diversification of tuber material uwi. "Bulbs called latin Dioscorea alata turned out to be a food that is safe for diabetics. Uwi sugar levels are low, but high in carbohydrates," said a student majoring in Biology ITS it.
Uwi processing into flour that did not require a complicated process, even just using traditional methods. "I'm made of two kinds uwi, uwi uwi white and purple that are equally low sugar yield. Uwi coarse grated, then soaked in lime water for separating grated with resin. uwi could sap water for pesticides that are environmentally friendly, "he said.
Grater that has been dried, he said, can be directly processed into flour. "Flour from uwi can be used as a raw material of various kinds of snacks, like cakes and noodles. Rasa own flour fresh, so easy to be varied," he said.
