UNS – An innovation to transform liquid waste from tofu production into Nata de Soya is carried out by a team of Student Community Service Program (KKN) Universitas Sebelas Maret (UNS) Surakarta, for the period January-February 2020 in Mojosongo, Jebres Sub-district, Solo. The Rukun Warga (RW-Neighborhood Association) 1 Mojosongo is a center for tofu and tempeh production with liquid and solid waste byproducts.
The solid waste byproducts are used as a raw material for the production of tempeh gembus, while the liquid waste is dumped directly into the rivers that flow across Mojosongo.
“This liquid waste emits an unpleasant odor because it still contains nutrients from processing soybeans into tofu. Based on our research through some research articles and internet sources, the liquid tofu waste can be used as a raw material in Nata production, as in a more popular Nata de Coco production using coconut water. Why Nata de Soya? Because the production process is quite simple and it can be sold, thus it generates a new source of income for the community,” said Maulida Siti Mukharohmah as the village coordinator on Thursday (20/02/2020) when contacted by uns.ac.id team.
Based on the concern about liquid waste, the idea of making Nata de Soya was sparked. Nata de Soya is food that made using the help of Acetobacter xylinum with the main material the tofu liquid waste. The production process involves fermentation.
“We hear about Nata de Coco more often, in Spanish Nata de Coco mean coconut cream. However, currently, it is widely known that Nata de Coco is a type of jelly that derived from the bacterial fermentation of coconut water. Nata de Soya is similar to the Nata de Coco, the only thing that different is its raw material because Nata de Coco is made from coconut essence, while Nata de Soya is made from tofu liquid byproducts,” explains Maulida.
Theworkshop and dissemination of Nata de Soya production usually are conducted at night. This is considering the busy life of the residents who mostly work as tofu and tempeh producers, who usually are active from morning to evening. Therefore, nighttime is the right time to hold a workshop. The speaker invited is Bara Yudhistira, S.T.P., M.Sc, a lecturer from the Food Science and Technology Study Program, the Faculty of Agriculture (FP) UNS.
Surely, there are obstacles encountered during the production of Nata de Soya. During the practice and trial, help from bacteria is needed to produce Nata. Bacteria are living creature, thus various efforts should be done to ensure that the condition is optimum. Temperatures, pH, and environment should match. Moreover, the process of Nata production takes approximately 7-14 days for the fermentation. Humas UNS/Zalfaa