Utilization of Discarded Vegetable Peels in Making Kikiam as Quality Street Foods

Abstract

Kikiam is a sausage-like Chinese dish that Philippines adopted and considered as one of its popular street foods. The version of kikiam bought along the streets highly contains flour which diminished the authentic flavor of Chinese kikiam. Although the taste and smell are identical to the existing kikiam in the market, the healthier version is taken for granted. This study aims to develop a new variety of kikiam utilizing the discarded peels of potatoes, carrots, chayote, and malunggay leaves as main ingredients. Dehydration process was applied to dry the vegetable peels, and then finely milled and sifted to make powdered veggie peels mixed on the remaining ingredients. The product was subjected to a pre-cook process of steaming for 30 minutes. Air drying was applied to cool down the product before weighing and packing. Using polyethylene plastic film bag, eighty grams of Veggie Peel Kikiam containing five pieces per pack was vacuum sealed to secure and ensure quality and safety of the street food for consumption. The nutritional and proximate analysis of the product results to the following: such as Ash 2.07%, Moisture 48.79%, Potassium 222.33%, Vitamin C 0.054%, Crude Fat 16.74%, Crude Fiber 0.27% and Crude Protein 15.51%.Withthese traceable nutrients the product is a good source of energy to regulate nervous system of the body. The product was also subjected to microbial analysis resulting to a negative result of Salmonella and has a less than 3 of E. Coli count which ensured that the product is ready and safe for human consumption. For the stability test, product could last for one month only if it is in a -10 °C freezing condition. For consumption the product can be fried for two minutes with a temperature of 185ËšC and suggested to be eaten either hot or warm. Veggie Peel Kikiam  was evaluated by 50 respondents composed of 30 students, ten professionals engage from different field of specializations and ten who are food experts. Qualitative scoring was used to determine the general acceptability of the product, with a total mean score of 3.56 with a descriptive evaluation of “Acceptable”. Therefore, the product can be considered as an alternative healthy food, which can be bought in the street.