UNS — The students of Universitas Sebelas Maret (UNS) Surakarta researched Cashew Abon as Utilization of Cashew Leftover with Economical Value for Farmers. This study was conducted by students from the Faculty of Agriculture (FP) UNS, Alfian Khamal Mustafa, Muhammad Aziz Nurdiyanto, Riyadhul Badi’ah, Suci Ayu Rohayati, and Uswatun Hasanah. The study was inspired by their concern on cashew processing that always creates wastes that pollute the environment.
“Cashew nut always left waste from the cashew apple’s accessory fruit, which is significant in number. The large number of cashew apples that were thrown out and feel around cashew tree causes environmental pollution,” Alfian stated, Saturday (19/12/2020).
The cashew apple wastes have potential in food industry processing but are not utilized optimally because of its taste and itchiness it causes. Cashew apples can be processed into sweets, abon, syrup, and other food products. The study Alfian’s team conducted aimed to process unused cashew apples into abon. This process can be considered as a zero-waste effort to reduce pollution from cashew apple wastes.
The abon production process is divided into two stages, cashew apple processing and abon processing. The cashew apple processing started with preparing cashew apple and cut it into several pieces. The small pieces are soaked in a mixture of water, salt, and metabisulfite for 15 minutes to reduce their taste. After the dilution, the abon production process started from breaking the texture of cashew apple by shredding the fruits. This process is followed by preparing and mixing spices such as chili, sugar, salt, garlic, and onion. The mixture is then stir-fried together with the cashew apple until coarse and dry. After it is well cooked, it will be packed before sold. The selected packaging is a reusable jar.
“We choose a jar so that what consumers get from us can be reused for other needs and is not disposable, therefore, minimizing the number of wastes from our products,” Alfian explained.
According to the result of their survey, their Abon Jamet (Jambu Mete – Cashew) product will have two variants, sweet original and spicy with level. The price is IDR 20,000 for 100 grams jar. The marketing process will be conducted online using a pre-order system. The online marketing will be conducted through the paid promote method on Instagram and WhatsApp story. The provided payment methods are through banking transfer and COD (Cash on Delivery) around the UNS Kentingan campus. Humas UNS
Reporter: Zalfaa Azalia Pursita
Editor: Dwi Hastuti
