Malang- Bakso (meatball)! hmmm….this food has become favorite for all Indonesians. We often find the food seller in almost all parts of city. Some sellers move around selling bakso and the others have a food stand. Bakso sellers are also found in Malang which is also called 'the City of Bakso'. When you are in Malang, you'll find a lot of bakso sellers.

Due to its popularity, one of UMM (Muhammadiyah University of Malang) lecturers at Biology Department, Dra.Siti Zaenab,M.Kes, gets inspired to do innovation by producing healthy and hygenic bakso. The lecturer who is also the secretary of Biology Department admits that the idea is from her hobby in consuming bakso. "Why I decided to produce mushroom bakso is because I like bakso very much," said she who is also a nutritionist. "Then I think how to make a different product in terms of nutrition and hygen. But the most important thing the bakso must be free from germs and healthier," said the mother with two children.

Finally, the lecturer residing in Giri Purmo Bumiaji Batu is successful in creating innovation: healthy and hygenic mushroom bakso. In fact, the basic ingredients are almost similar to usual bakso. What makes it different is seasonning and additional ingredients. Mushroom used is not usual mushroom. She uses shitake and tiram mushroom. The compound of shitake is more than tiram because shitake contains protein, niasin, thiamin, riboflavin, and   lentinan. Letinan is polysakharida dissolved in water. It is believed to have anti-tumor and cancer. According to her this bakso cannot make obesity. "Besides those benefits, this bakso minimizes obesity and very suitable to vegetarians. So, don't be afraid of consuming this bakso'" said Zaenab.

Actually, this innovation has been invented since almost two years ago in 2009. Zaenab has produced this bakso at her house and has had an outlet beside Batu Shuki, a restaurant in Batu, Malang. However, due to her busy activity as a lecturer and department head of biology at UMM, Zaenab decided to produce bakso only at her house. Althoug it only uses word of mouth marketing, her bakso named "ZAMRUD" has been many people's favorite, including the big family of UMM. She often gets order for the events conducted by UMM such the meeting of Islamic university rectors across Indonesia. Her creation and innovation makes her get income not less than her income as a lecturer.

(trans by hamzah - uhamka)