" " "

Banana snack industry goes stale

Not so long ago, the Central Java town of Majenang was famous for being the home of sale pisang, a unique snack made with bananas, but recently the market changed and the local snack industry faded to a fraction of its former success. Majenang, one of 23 districts in Cilacap regency in the far west of the province - bordering with Banjar and Ciamis regencies in West Java - has about 30 small factories producing the snack. Before the 1998 economic crisis, there were around 100 such producers, leading Cilacap administration to come up with the idea of making the snack the icon of Majenang. But with the crisis, the plan hit snags and many cottage industries were forced out of business. More than a decade later, the situation has yet to improve. "Before the crisis I could sell 2 or 3 tons of fried banana sweets to Jakarta. But things are difficult now," Yayat, a 61-year-old sale pisang business owner, told The Jakarta Post in Majenang. Today, Yayat produces only about 200 kilograms of sale pisang a month, and 99 percent of this is sold in Majenang. The snacks are sold in 250-gram packages, each costing around Rp 25,000 (US$2). Another snack producer, Juremi, said that before the crisis she could send 2 tons of sale pisang to Jakarta, Bandung and Surabaya each month. "Now we only sell sale pisang for the local market," the 60-year-old said. Juremi said most of the snack producers were struggling to survive. "What's important is that business survives. If there are buyers in the city, that's enough. Sometimes we get an order from outside the city, but this is unreliable," she said. "Once, a distributor from outside the city wanted to place an order, but the price he offered was too low to cover our production costs. Rather than suffering losses, we preferred not to take it." Making sale pisang does not take long. Ripe bananas are cut into slices and dried in the sun. "If the sun is bright, the bananas will dry out in two days. But in a rainy season like this, it takes about four days," Juremi said. The dried bananas are then smeared with flour and deep-fried. After being drained, the banana chips are ready to be packaged and sold. The sale pisang business has supported many, including farmers and traders who sell raw bananas to cottage industries in Majenang, as well as banana snack makers such as Juremi and Yayat, and the vendors. Majenang district head, Heru Susedyo, said he was aware of the stagnant business situation. "Sale pisang was once so popular that the Cilacap administration planned to make it the icon of Majenang city, but the plan could not be realized because sales keep decreasing." http://www.thejakartapost.com/news/2009/03/06/

Monday 1 December 2008

the banana splits

week, add 5 minutes to that. Keep adding minutes until you are walking or wheeling AT LEAST 30-minutes each day. Don't forget your water bottle. If You're In a wheelchair, your arms are probably stronger than mine. Get out there for 10 minutes and wheel yourself around the block. A hoveround is cheating and so is someone pushing you. ;) Myth 3: High Protein - Low Carb Diets Are A Healthy Way To Lose WeightCarbohydrates are not bad for you. I don't know who started this myth, but it should be stopped. It is important, when trying to lose weight, you should limit the amount of refined carbohydrates and instead replace them with high-fiber fruits, vegetables and whole grains. There are numerous problems associated with getting a large portion of dietary intake from protein alone, including decreased energy. Carbohydrates are your body's first source of energy. Then we can talk about constipation. Constipation when eating only high protein diets are not only common... when we are constipated how do we look? FAT. So THAT's not going to work for us right? I won't even go into the health considerations of being constipated. I'll just harass you with that on another article or lens. :) When a person is on a high protein - low carb diet for too long it can lead to a buildup of keytones. This can be very beneficial for individuals with certain seizure types but not very beneficial otherwise. This condition is called ketosis. Ketosis has it's own yucky side effects such as high levels of uric acid, which can lead to gout and kidney stones. Myth 4: Low Fat Or Nonfat Foods Are Good For YouHave you ever really looked at a low fat label? Just because something has lower grams of fat does not mean it's good for you. In many cases, low fat foods have more simple carbs in them to make them taste better. In other words, sugar. And by now you know that sugar just turns into... FAT. Ah, what a roller coaster ride of misinformation we are fed. So what am I saying exactly? Low fat or no fat may be better than high fat, but it certainly
Posted by at
Labels:

No comments:

Post a Comment

Subscribe to: Post Comments (Atom)