Keropok' production is an important cottage industry in Malaysia. However, production methods used are poor, resulting in inferior quality products which have uneven expansion characteristics, dark objectionable colours and varying shapes, sizes and thicknesses. This paper describes a method that can be used to upgrade 'keropok' production. Basically it is an adaptation from sausage production technology. Products from this method were superior in terms of appearance, shape and linear expansion and were more acceptable to taste panellists.

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Differential Scanning calorimetry (DSC) was used to study the effect of fish protein, salt, sugar, and monosodium glutamate (MSG) on gelatinization of tapioca and sago starches in fish cracker mixtures. One endothermic transition was observed for fish‐starch mixtures (10–90% wet fish) if the moisture content was more than 61%. The effect of the salt on the starch gelatinization is greater than sugar and MSG. Sugar and MSG addition to the mixture had little effect on gelatinization of starch in the system. Two percent salt increased the gelatinization temperature by 4–5 C. The onset (T0) and peak (Tp) temperatures increased with increases in fish content in fish‐starch mixtures but the conclusion temperatures (Tc) remained relatively constant. Increases in fish content also narrowed the gelatinization temperature ranges.

The effect of pressure cooking on microstructure of wheat and tapioca starch in keropok gel and expansion of jhed keropok slices were studied. The morphology of the starch granules in the keropok gel at different steaming temperature was examined using scanning electron microscopy (SEM} . Linear expansion of keropok made with wheat starch increased with increasing steaming temperature, but that of keropok made with tapioca starch decreased with increasing steaming temperature. The linear expansion results correlate with the sensory evaluation of the products.

Keropok', a traditional Malaysian snack food composed of fish and flour, was successfully prepared by extrusion. The degree of expansion of the dried product on frying was measured as a function of extruder temperature and the ratio of fish to tapioca flour in the product. It was found that expansion decreased with increasing fish content.Organoleptic evaluation indicated that the extruded products were as acceptable as those prepared using traditional methods.