Vacuum Frying Grant: Independent Home Industry in Border Areas
The abundance of natural resources in the province of West Kalimantan, especially in border areas, has great potential to become an agro-industry center for various food products based on existing natural resources. Fruits such as bananas, durian, terap, papaya, and so on are local production assets in border areas that have the potential to be processed into food products such as fruit chips. Munyau Hamlet, District. Sekayam-Balai Karangan District. Sanggau, West Kalimantan is one of the border areas with abundant fruit potential.
The Research Team from Tanjungpura University, chaired by Prof. Dr. Kamarullah, SH, MH (Faculty of Law) with members: Dr. Thamrin Usman, DEA (Faculty of Mathematics and Natural Sciences), Dr. Ir. Erlinda Yurisinthae, MP (Faculty of Agriculture), and Ir. Herlambang Effendy, M.Si (Balitbang DoD RI) has conducted research related to empowering border communities in processing food products such as chips with the potential for an abundance of local fruit. The implementation of this activity also involved lecturers (Nelly Wahyuni, S.Si, M.Si, and Winda Rahmalia, S.Si, M.Si) and students (Endra, Romi, Ya', Sana, Dewi, Agus, Risya, Ridho, Henri, Verry, Sy. Indra, and Ismail) as the implementing team.
This activity is a form of community service through the transfer of knowledge and technology based on natural resources in the area, from universities to border communities. This is done through training in the use of vacuum frying for the production of fruit chips. Increasing human resource expertise in natural resource management is carried out to improve the welfare of border communities. This vacuum frying equipment was donated to the people of Munyau Hamlet to manage it well as an effort to form an independent home industry based on existing natural resources. Furthermore, monitoring of the management of the vacuum frying equipment will continue to be carried out by the research team together with the implementation team.
A vacuum frying machine or vacuum frying machine is a machine for making various fruit and vegetable chips using a vacuum system. This machine for processing fruit into chips is a new, appropriate technology in Indonesia. Fruit chips produced from a Vacuum Frying Machine do not burn and do not lose their taste, aroma, and nutritional value. This is because the vacuum frying process can reduce the boiling point of oil to 90 degrees Celsius and the vacuum working pressure is between 65 – 76 cmHg. The working principle of vacuum frying is to suck the water content in vegetables and fruit at high speed so that the pores of the fruit and vegetable flesh do not close quickly so that the water content in the fruit can be absorbed completely. The working principle is to regulate the balance of temperature and vacuum pressure.
One of the outcomes of this research is the production of chip products made from local fruit which can be used as souvenirs or souvenirs, thereby increasing people's income which will ultimately create community prosperity. By mastering the technology of exploiting the potential of local fruit by the community, they can build a home industry. Furthermore, with good and attractive packaging, it will attract consumers' interest in buying it. Based on the results of the questionnaire, it was found that 80% of the target community said that the activities carried out were interesting and useful, 75% believed that this activity would open up new job opportunities for them, 77% stated that this activity would have a very positive impact on human resources and human resources. natural resources that exist on the border, so that by developing their abilities and utilizing the potential of local natural resources, they can improve their welfare.
