Sensory Evaluation of Fish Cake (Pempek) with the Addition of Modified Tapioca

Fish cake with the local name as pempek, is one of traditional foods from south Sumatra, Indonesia. The main ingredients in pempek include minced fish meat and tapioca. The large portion of tapioca in the pempek?s dough resulted in the texture of pempek is firming during storage. Modification of tapioca was conducted to retard the firming texture of pempek. This research focused on the sensory evaluation of the pempek with the addition of modified tapioca. The selected modification methods included microwave, ultrasonic, and combination of microwave and ultrasonic methods. There were 50 panelists to judge the preferences on the texture, color, taste and appearance of pempek based on the hedonic scores of 1 (dislike), 2 (like moderately), 3 (like extremely). Results showed that the addition of modified tapioca significantly affected the texture, color, and taste of pempek. The most preferred treatment was found to be pempek with the addition of tapioca modified by combination of microwave and ultrasonic-assisted treatment. The hedonic score was in the range between 2 (like moderately) to 3 (like extremely).