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Korean fresh elephant-foot (Amorphophalus konjak K. Koch) and its powder were analyzed and compared with foreign samples to investigate the physico-chemical characteristics of Korean konjak. The Korean fresh konjak contained 80.6% of moisture content and most of the solid component comprises much of sugar, protein and trace of fat and fibre. The mannan content of Korean konjak powder is far smaller than those of Japanese and Chinese konjak powder. The analysis of the Korean konjak revealed that glutamic acid, aspartic acid and arginine included 45% of total amount, and other amino acid was increased with the order of valine, serine, leucine and glycine. The Korean konjak contained a moderate amount of K component and other inorganic component was larger with the order of P, Na and Ca. The yield of refined powder obtained from dried chip of Konjak was 61.0% in Korean one and 57.5% in Chinese one. The degree of lightness of Chinese konjak powder was slightly higher than that of Korean product, but the difference could not be recognized by naked eye.
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