The physico-chemical properties of gelatins from the skins of Red tilapia (Oreochromis nilotica), Walking catfish (Clarias batrachus) and Striped catfish (Pangasius sutchi fowler) obtained through a liming process for 14 days were evaluated. All the gelatins had very mild to undetectable fishy odour and had acceptable colour attributes, which were light yellowish to whitish. The highest gelatin yield (dry basis) was obtained from red tilapia (39.97%) skin and the bloom strength exceeded 300 g. The pH values of the gelatins were in the vicinity of 5.0. The viscosity (cp) was highest in striped catfish, followed by red tilapia and walking catfish. Their melting points were in the vicinity of 26 ± 1 °C. Turbidity was lowest in the red tilapia gelatin. Glycine, proline and alanine were the three highest amino acids found in all the gelatins obtained.

The study aimed to determine the characteristics of gelatin from water buffalo (Bubalus bubalis) skin pre-treated with NaOH and Ca(OH)2 at different concentrations (0.3 M, 0.5 M and 0.7 M) and extracted at 65˚C for 6 hrs and 24 hrs respectively. The gelatin obtained was evaluated for its moisture, protein and ash content, UV-vis absorption value, colour, emulsifying and foaming properties. The highest yield (20.25%) was observed for gelatin extracted by 0.5 M NaOH at 24 hrs extraction time. For alkaline pre-treatment, it was found that NaOH was more efficient than Ca(OH)2 in terms of preparing the skin for subsequent extraction process. The protein content of the extracted gelatin samples was in the range of 71.76% - 87.83%, showing that the varying processing conditions are sufficiently to recover protein from the raw material. Ash content for all samples was in agreement with USDA standard, which was below than 3%. The extracted gelatin had varying pH values which were from 5.47 to 7.02. The gelatin was colourless with ‘L’ values of more than 80, except for 0.7 M Ca(OH)2 at 24 hrs which showed slightly darker properties. The intensity of the UV-vis absorption spectrum showed that a high absorption peak was observed at 6 hrs of extraction time (230 – 250 nm) compared to 24 hrs extraction time. Emulsifying properties of buffalo gelatin increased with increasing concentrations of alkaline except for 0.7 M NaOH and 0.7 M Ca(OH)2 for both extraction time. Meanwhile, foam expansion of the gelatin extracted from the different extraction conditions was observed to have a significant difference (p < 0.05) for all samples. To our knowledge, buffalo skin has the potential to be an alternative source of gelatin in the diversified industrial application by modifying the extraction conditions in order to produce gelatin with desired quality.

Water spinach (Ipomoea aquatic Forsk.) is a food for human beings and animals. It is rich in minerals, protein, dietary fibre, with high moisture content. The work was undertaken to determine contents of K, Ca, Mg, Na & P in the stems, leaves and petioles of water spinach. Atomic absorption spectrometry (AAS) and Inductive Couple Plasma (ICP) were used to determine concentration of nutrients, where one way ANOVA was applied to analyse if there is any significant differences in the macronutrient contents amongst the leaves, petioles and stems of the water spinach. If any of the results showed significant differences, Turkey post-hoc HSD test (p<0.05%) was adopted to separate the means. In addition, Pearson’s Correlation Coefficient Test was conducted between the plant macronutrients samples (leaves + stem + petioles combined) and water macronutrients data run to determine their relationships. In addition, purpose of this study is to highlight to the public which parts of the plant should be consumed and also to indicate the relationship of Water Spinach with its growing medium. The K concentration was higher than the other elements and maximum concentration was in petioles (432+27.45 mg·L-1) and stems (424.60+14.19 mgL-1). The element with the least concentration was Na (3.10+0.40 mgL-1), in the petiole. There was no difference in Mg content in leaves, petioles and stems (avg. 28.55+1.61 mgL-1). High amounts of Ca (150+0.10 mgL-1) and low amounts of P (41.11+0.01 mgL-1) were in pond water. A positive correlation of each nutrient occurred between water spinach and pond water.

The objective of the research was to investigate the physicochemical characteristics of Tarap fruit starch. In this study, young Tarap fruit starch was extracted and the percentage of total starch, resistant starch, amylose and amylopectin were determined. Scanning electron microscope was used to evaluate the morphological features of the starch granule. Swelling, pasting, gelatinization, retrogradation and in vitro digestibility were also investigated. A total of 17.85% starch was successfully extracted from unripe Tarap fruit, whereas the amount of total starch and resistant starch were 89.14% and 47.82%, respectively. The amounts of rapid digestible starch and slowly digestible starch were 6.58% and 23.25%, respectively. Results found that the amylopectin content was higher than amylose (77.15% and 11.97%). The starch granules were round and polygon in shapes with smooth surfaces. The average of starch granules size was range from 6.50 to 8.30 μm with 7.4 μm of mean granule diameter. Pasting properties showed that peak viscosity was observed at about 6.5 min at 73.5oC. Tarap starch gelatinization temperatures (onset, 71.63°C; peak, 74.56°C; conclusion, 78.24°C) and enthalpy of gelatinization (ΔHgel) (3.74 J/g) were higher while the retrograded starches show lower retrogradation temperature and enthalpy than native starches. Unripe Tarap starch showed good potential to be utilized as adhesives and thickener for industrial applications.

Coconut milk is widely used in Malaysia as one of the essential ingredients in preparing traditional baked cake or ‘kuih bakar’. Increased demand for coconut milk affects its availability and cost. Thus, it is important to study a possible alternative ingredient to ensure the continuity of this traditional dessert. This project aimed to determine the physicochemical and sensory properties of ‘kuih bakar’ produced with coconut milk and soy milk. In the present study, ‘kuih bakar’ was prepared with fresh coconut milk (FCM) (positive control), fresh soy milk (FSM), commercial coconut milk (CCM), commercial soy milk (CSM), and without milk (negative control). Proximate analysis showed that substitution of coconut milk with soy milk reduced the fat and increased the protein content of ‘kuih bakar’ significantly (p < 0.05). However, the substitution of coconut milk did not show a significant effect (p > 0.05) on the colour properties and water activity of the sample. There were significant differences (p < 0.05) in scores during sensory evaluation between the samples but the ‘kuih bakar’ produced with FSM showed no significant difference (p < 0.05) as compared to FCM and CCM. This study demonstrated that physicochemical and sensory attributes of traditional ‘kuih bakar’ can be maintained by using FSM as a substitution of the traditional coconut milk used in producing ‘kuih bakar’.