RIAU ISLANDS — Starting from oyster mushroom cultivation, a housewife in Batu Aji, Batam City, Riau Islands, successfully processed oyster mushrooms into culinary snacks for mushroom fish cake. In addition to having a delicious and savoury taste, this home preparation is also productive in nourishing the body. In addition, it is also efficacious in specifically increasing nutritional intake to prevent stunting cases in children.
The woman who is familiarly called Mrs. Mujiatun uses the spaces in her house to cultivate oyster mushrooms and immediately processes them herself into mushroom fish cake culinary. Not wanting to feel accomplished alone, she invited 61 other housewives to study together to help improve the family’s economy.
Mrs Mujiatun’s success is supported by the kindness of Dompet Dhuafa donors who want this business to continue to increase and generate economic income for each family. This program is called Berdikari (Pemberdayaan dan Pendampingan Keluarga Mandiri or Empowerment and Assistance of Independent Families) Oyster Mushroom Cultivation and is one of the economic empowerment programs by Dompet Dhuafa Kepulauan Riau.
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This program is communal-based with the concept of decentralization for 61 housewives who are members of Puskopkar Batu Aji, as beneficiaries. As many as 20 of them are widows who are now the backbone of the family.
The Java-born woman who has lived in Batam since 1992 has long pursued the world of the creative culinary business. He said that the first time he met Dompet Dhuafa was in June 2022. Then in November 2022, he and Dompet Dhuafa began planning a business idea for orphan families, namely oyster mushroom cultivation. Oyster mushrooms were chosen because it was easy to cultivate them.
“I think mushroom cultivation is very easy. There is no need to have acres of land or large agricultural equipment that is expensive. There is no need to be exposed to UV rays either. So it can be done only at home while snacking children, cooking, and trading. But it can continue to produce and harvest,” he explained to the Dompet Dhuafa team when they met at his residence on Thursday (16/3/2023).
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Moreover, he has also studied and pursued the process of cultivating oyster mushrooms. Until February 19, 2023, this program will start running involving 61 beneficiaries. Unlike the fish brains that are often encountered, the brains of this fungus have a reddish appearance. The reason is that it has more spices, including red pepper. Furthermore, the basic composition is certainly oyster mushrooms and imbued with a little fish element.
While the packaging is made of coconut leaves. This is what also causes this snack to be able to emit an aroma like coconut milk. On the other hand, Batam is a coconut-producing area and its derivatives, including packaged coconut milk, that we often enjoy.
We could say Mrs. Mujiatun is a culinary pioneer of mushroom fish cake in Batam. This snack can be found at bazaar events and several tourist culinary places, including Jambu Marina Batam Agrotourism. (Dompet Dhuafa/Muthohar)