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Dyandra Hayuningtias Prameswari

Sharif Maulana

Physics

13th July 2014

With the high demand rate of Cavendish bananas in the world market, as
well as the fact that banana is one of the most important tropical fruit in the
business. Considering its creamy texture and sweet taste, it is no longer a surprise
that banana is a favorite food for everyone—from infants to elders—bananas are
also considered as a good source of fiber and minerals, as well as vitamins.
However, due to the market’s high demands of bananas—particularly
Cavendish bananas—bananas are often have to go through an artificial ripening
process before it reaches the market, this will lead us to the fact that bananas sold
in supermarkets are usually deep yellow in color along with the appearance of
brown or black spots on the outer flesh, the color and the spots on the banana
shows that in one or two days after the purchase, it would be over ripened.
An experiment was conducted to see whether the postharvest application
CaCl2 (calcium chloride) in various concentration rates might delay the ripening
process of the bananas by a few more days. The hypothesis is that the banana left
in a 0.5M solution of CaCl2 for 60 minutes would still look like as if it was on the
early stages of ripening, albeit delaying its ripening process and preserving the
banana.
At the end, it becomes apparent that by using 0.5M solution of CaCl 2 (the
highest concentration of the solution used in this experiment) delays the ripening
process to seven more days. However, using a much higher concentration of
solution or leaving it in the solution for too long may lead to food poisoning.

Keywords: banana, Cavendish banana, CaCl2, ripening process

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Acknowledgement

I would say that it was quite bumpy road to have this paper done. On this
occasion, I would like to thank everyone who was involved in the process of
writing this paper. First of all, I would like to thank God for giving me the ability
to finish writing and conducting the experiment for this paper. I would also like to
thank my tutor, Maria Yovie Agustine, for giving me the trust and chance to
continue her research in a different approach. Thanks to Mr. Sharif Maulana for
his patience and kindness in guiding me in this project. Special thanks also goes to
Ms. Soehartini and Mr. Marsan for providing the chemical solutions and for
helping me conduct the experiment.

Thanks to Mr. Ari Winarko who had assessed this project. I would also
like to thank my friends and my family who had been a great support in finishing
this paper.
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List of Contents

ABSTRACT……………………………………………………………………... i

ACKNOWLEDGEMENT……...………….....……………….………………… ii

I. INTRODUCTION……………………...……………...………………………. 1

1.1 Background….……………………………………………...…… 1

1.2 Problem Formulation.…….….……………………….…............. 1

1.3 Hypothesis……….……….….………………………………….. 2

1.4 Aims and Objectives.…….…….……………….…………..….... 2

1.5 Uses of the Project.…………….……………….…………......… 2

II. THEORIES…………………………...……………...…….…………………. 3

2.1 Description of Cavendish Bananas…………...………..….…..... 3

2.2 Advantages and Uses of Bananas…………….…………....…..... 3

2.3 Ripening Process……...………………………………………..... 4

2.4 The effect of CaCl2 Treatment on Fruits………...……………..... 5

2.5 Calcium Chloride (CaCl2) ………...……………….…………..... 5

III. METHODS…………………………...……………...…….…………………. 7

3.1 Materials…………………………….……………………...…… 7

3.2 Procedure……………………….…….…….……..…………….. 7

IV. RESULT AND DISCUSSION……...……………...…….…………………. 8

4.1 Results…………..………………………………………………. 8

4.2 Discussion……..…...……………………...………….………… 9

V. CONCLUSION……………………...……………...…….………………… 11
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Works Cited…………………………………………………………………... 12

Biography…………………………………………………………………...... 13
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List of Figures

Figure 4.1 First condition of bananas…..………………………………………... 8

Figure 4.2 3rd – 5th banana samples……...……………...……………………….. 9

Figure 4.2 6th samples on the 7th day…………...........…………………………... 8

Table 5.1 Normal Cavendish bananas…….....……………….……………........ 11

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List of Tables

Table 4.1 CaCl2 on Bananas……...…………..……………….……………... 8 – 9