The word “salad” comes from the Latin herbasalata “salted herbs”. Its derivation suggests that in the early days, salads must have been freshly picked vegetables, seasoned with salt and eaten raw. However, more elaborate salads were known by the time of classical Rome.  Salads are served at the start of a meal, they excite the palate and […]

Shortenings are used for frying and baking. Commercial frying operations require that fried products have a good shelf life. Since the fat in the fried products has a large area that is exposed to air, it is susceptible and this will cause the products to become rancid. For this reason, the use of polyunsaturated oil […]

In Malaysia, there are various types of ice cream available commercially such as soft and hard ice cream, lolli-pops, chocolate ice-cream bars etc. Generally, ice-cream is made up of milkfat, solid non fat, sugar emulsifier and stabilizer. It can be classified as dairy and non dairy depending on the type of fat used.  The commercial value of […]

The oil palm is the most productive of oil-bearing plant species. Commercial plantations in Malaysia are known to yield between 3-5 tonnes of crude palm oil/hectare/year which is about 10 times yield of oil obtained from other oilseed crops. Crude palm oil/olein is also known to contain a significant amount (0.05-0.07%) of carotenes which is responsible […]

The oil palm industry in Malaysia generates more than 1.3 million tonnes of oil palm trunks (OPT), 8.0 million tonnes of pruned and felled fronds (OPF), and 2.4 million tonnes of empty fruit brunches (EFB). These massive quantities of OPT, OPF and EFB are the biomass components available from replanting, and also through routine field […]