The Prospect of Developing Breadfruit as An Alternative Source of Food to Support Food Diversification

Abstract

Local food is a strategic product for fulfilling the needs of substitute staple for rice and also for food mainstay and a business commodity. One of the local food sources of alternative carbohydrates is breadfruit. Breadfruit production in Indonesia reaches to approximately 190,551.00 tons. Besides being used as food, breadfruit is also used as a raw material for the industry. It has a relatively high nutritional composition. In 100 grams of wet weight, breadfruit contains of 27.12 grams of carbohydrates, 17 mg of calcium, 29 mg of vitamin C, 490 mg of potassium and an energy value of 103 calories. The edible portion (flesh) of the young fruit is 70%, while the ripe fruit is 78%. Currently, the consumption of breadfruit is limited into form of boiled or fried one. Various technologies have been developed in order to increase the variant of breadfruit processed product as an alternative staple food besides rice, wheat and corn. Along with the times, breadfruit has been processed into various form of foods, in order to increase its value in society and be consumed as staple food. Several types of processed breadfruit that has been used as staple foods are breadfruit flour, noodles/vermicelli; bread, sponge; donuts; cakes; breadfruit chips; etc. The effort of processing breadfruit into various kinds of processed foods can support the development program of food diversification. Food diversification is an effort to increase the availability of various food and based on the potential of local resources to meet the diversity of food consumption patterns, which also nutritionally balanced and safe; develop food business; and/or improve the welfare of the community. This paper is the result of a summary and synthesis of several research and assessment results.