The handover of a set of legen-based nata making tools from the ITS Abmas team to APLAH partners after providing training.

ITS Campus, ITS News – Legen is a traditional drink from Gresik, East Java which has a high potential for selling power. Therefore, the community service team (Abmas) of the Institut Teknologi Sepuluh Nopember introduced the making of nata with legen as a basic ingredient to legen farmers in Gresik to increase the selling price of legen as a product that has economic and halal value.

Dr. Lailatul Qadariyah ST MT, as the team leader, explained that legen is a legendary drink made from siwalan trees and can be found around the Hendosari, Gresik. “If the legen is not processed properly, in about 24 hours the legen will turn into tuak.” Explained the woman who is familiarly called Arin.

According to Arin, based on the information provided by Hardi Sunaryo as a representative of the Henrosari Legen Farmers Association or known as ‘APLAH’, legen has a composition almost the same as old coconut water. So that legen can be utilized by fermentation to produced nata.

So based on this statement, Arin continued, the ITS Abmas team from the Chemical Engineering Department conducted socialization on making legen-based nata to legen farmers in Gresik. “This is to increase the use of legen as a high economic value to increase the use of legen as a high economic value product to become Nata de Legen,” she said.

The activities of the ITS Abmas team when providing practical assistance to make nata from legen

Before providing direct assistance, the team made Nata de Legen first. This started with buying a starter of Acetobacter xylinum from the Unair Microbiology Laboratory. Then, the ITS Abmas made nata with legen basic materials at the Industrial Waste Treatment Laboratory, ITS Chemical Engineering Department.

Photo of the ITS Abmas team with APLAH partners when providing training on making nata with legen basic ingredients

Furthermore, a mentoring event was carried out for the partners of the legen farmers in Hendrosari Village, Gresik in making Nata de Legen. Assistance to partners is carried out in a hybrid manner are offline and online. In this offline assistance, several lecturers and students were directly present at Gresik. “While online is done through the zoom application if someone can’t go to Gresik,” explained the lecturer at the Department of Chemical Engineering.

Arin explained that the resulting legen could be observed for the next two weeks. Besides, so that partners who are legen Hendrosari farmer association can make their nata, then assistance in making the starter Acetobacter xylinum was held. “Then proceed with making starter nata made from legen,” she explained.

Not being stopped there, Arin added that this activity will be continued by conducting clinical trials on the results of nata and submitting halal certification for nata products made by legen farmers. The hope is that partners can independently make nata so that the production price of making nata is low. “Besides that, it also provides significant profit for legen farmers,” she concluded. (naj/ris/ITS Public Relations)

The activities of the ITS Abmas team when providing practical assistance to make nata form legen