Photo by : arif 2010
Konjac Glucomannan
Konjac or Konnyaku is a plant very popular in China and Japan. Konnyaku an Amorphophallus species, resulting from the tuber roots. It has been consumed as part of Japanese cuisine is more than 1500 years. Tubers or roots of these plants grow naturally in Southeast Asia and China and processed into a powder containing glucomannan have multifunction as a raw material for various food and beverage industries, pharmaceutical, textile, paper and other industries, then this product is needed by many countries in the world.Ninety seven percent of Konnyaku is water and three percent is Glucomannan, or dietary fibre. It is also rich in minerals and very low in calories, It does not have fat. *) Standard of Food Composition in Japan.
Terms grow this plant with a maximum of 40% sunlight making it ideal crop is planted between teak, mahogany and others, but in Japan and China, cultivation is done in an open field. In Japan and China, Konjac plants mainly grow in mountainous areas and hilly lands of above 800-meter altitudes and under an annual average ambient temperature of about 16℃. In China, Konjac is produced in mountainous areas in middle and western China’s Hubei, Shaanxi, Yunnan, Guizhou, Sichuan, etc. The western mountainous areas in Hubei Province are the major production base for high quality konjac in China.
One major obstacle for the particular country in the cultivation of konjac is a factor the weather or season. This plant is suitable for the tropics are only familiar with the rainy season and dry, this condition is very suitable for tropical climates of Southeast Asia, growing conditions require loose soil conditions are not stagnant water with a pH of 5.6 to 6.
For species that grow in Indonesia is “Porang”, yellow tuber that grows at an altitude of 100-700 meters above sea level. grows wild and natural.
Konjac Roots
Multifunction Glucomannan from tubers konnyaku
Glucomannan is one of the most important chemical component contained in the tuber
(Amorphophallus sp). Which is a polysaccharida composed of units of D-glucoce and D-mannose. Result of analysis of the hydrolysis-acetolysis glucomannan trisaccharida produced a composed by two D-mannose and one D-glucoce, therefore in one molecule of D-mannose glucomannan contained a number of 67% and D-glucose of 33%. The content of tubers konnyaku glucomannan very depending on the species, glucomannan content between 5 - 65 %. One type konnyaku who have high glucomannan content in konjac yellow tuber ( Amorphohallus oncophyllus Pram ) which is about 65 %, while other species that contain high levels of glucomannan is konjac white tubers (variabilis blume) with glucomannan content of about 44 %. Apart glucomannan konjac tuber carbohydrate consists of starch, crude fiber, sugar free and poliosa. Other components contained in the bulb konjac is calcium oxalate. Calcium oxalate causes tuber itchy.
Glucomannan compounds have unique properties as follows :
Soluble in water, so the water can form a highly viscous solution.
Form a gel, because glucomannan in water to form a highly viscous solution, then with the addition of lime water to form a gel substance glucomannan, where the gel is formed has a unique nature and note easily damaged.
Glue, glucomannan in water has a strong viscosity, with the addition of acetic acid viscosity is lost.
Expands, glucomannan in water has a big fluffy nature, resource deployment 138-200%, so glucomannan a fiber with high viscosity in absorbing water.
Invisibility, glucomannan solution to form a thin layer of film that have a translucent character, the film formed can dissolve in water, stomatch acid and intestinal fluids. But if the movie from glucomannan made with the addition of NaOH or glycerin it will produce water-resistant film.
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