Black grass jelly is a herbal dessert made from dried leaves extracts of Mesona
chinensis plant. Commercial black grass jelly exhibits a short shelf life when stored at
room temperature due to the usage of tapioca starch which results in a higher syneresis
rate and unstable texture. Hence, the objective of this research is to develop dried black
grass jelly with different tapioca and sago starch ratio for increasing the shelf life of
the black grass jelly. The black grass jelly was formulated with different sago and
tapioca starch ratio (0:100, 25:75, 50:50, 75:25, 100:0), thereafter dried at different
drying time (0, 3, 6, 9, 12, 24, 30 hr) and rehydrated at 90 ℃ for 15 min. The
development of dried black grass jelly containing different tapioca and sago starch
ratio was successful. The effects of different sago and tapioca starch ratio and drying
time on the physical properties of black grass jelly were determined. Hence, analyses
on the moisture content, colour, texture, syneresis, drying kinetics (moisture content
against drying time) and rehydration capacity were conducted. The increase in sago
starch ratio significantly decreased (p<0.05) the moisture content of fresh black grass
jelly consisting of both starches. The values of all the colour parameters and textural
parameters except springiness, of the fresh black grass jelly increased significantly
(p<0.05) in comparison with control sample when the sago starch ratio was increased
to more than 75%. Different sago and tapioca starch ratio did not significantly affect
(p>0.05) the syneresis of black grass jelly after storage for 24 hr, however the syneresis
of fresh black grass jelly significantly (p<0.05) increased with the increase in storage
time. A non-linear relationship was observed on the drying curve of black grass jelly
