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JEMBER Regency, one of the regencies in the East Java region, has extraordinary charm and wealth. Not much is known, Jember has a Tobacco Museum, a cigar-producing city, there is a coffee and cocoa Research Center which is only 2 in the world, to exporting edamame to Japan and other countries. Not only that, Jember also has many unique snacks to taste. Starting from Suwar Suwir to Proll Tape, both of which are made from the main ingredient of cassava fermented or (Tape).
These two typical Jember snacks can also be found in a gift shop called Primadona. Not only selling various souvenirs, Primadona also independently produces Suwar Suwir and Proll Tape. Primadona owned by Rendra Wirawan has been established since 1984 and produces a variety of typical Jember snacks based on cassava tape. His business has progressed and has succeeded in getting through the pandemic some time ago. And now Primadona is still producing Suwar Suwir and Proll Tape.
“At the beginning we started this business when we saw that there were a lot of cassava fermented that was overflowing and in the end it was just thrown away. At that time the house was in front of Tanjung Market and in front of the house was the place where cassava fermented was dropped from cars or trucks. There we saw a lot of cassava fermented being thrown away because Tape (cassava fermented) only has a short shelf life. I immediately thought what to do with it so that the Tape wouldn’t just go to waste,” said Rendra, who received a visit from the Jakarta’s Media Journalist Association at his production house.
Finally, he continued, I had the idea to make a snack that uses Tape or cassava fermented as its main ingredient so that it has a longer shelf life than the cassava fermented itself. Finally it’s became a delicious snacks and we called Suwar Suwir.
Suwar Suwir, uses white cassava tape as its main ingredient. The manufacturing process takes a long time, because you have to keep stirring it while heating it over a fire. At first glance the manufacturing process resembles making dodol is a delicacy made from cassava fermented. After stirring for about 4-5 hours, the dough is cooled and then cut or shredded into smaller sizes. From this process, the name Suwar Suwir became known, which continues to be popular today.
“Well, Suwar Suwir is offered with several different flavors. Starting from the flavors of chocolate, soursop, pineapple, durian, and milk. Of all the existing flavors, Suwar Suwir Chocolate is the best-selling and much-loved by Primadona’s customers. Suwar Suwir itself has a sweet taste and has a shelf life of about 1 year.
However, Rendra admits that he does not use preservatives in his products, it can last for up to a year because Suwar Suwir uses a lot of sugar as one of its ingredients. Until now, sugar is believed to be a natural preservative.
Primadona has also produced Proll Tape under the same brand since the 2000s. Proll Tape, which at first glance looks like a sponge cake, uses yellow cassava tape as its main ingredient. Yellow cassava was chosen because the end result will taste more legit. The name Tape Proll itself appears because the raw material used is tape, and the manufacturing process is rolled or ‘stirred’. So, Tape Proll itself means ‘mixed cassava fermented’.
This Primadona-style Proll Tape is also offered in several different flavors. Namely Walnut Proll Tape, Raisin Cheese Tape Proll, Chocolate Cheese Proll Tape, and Original Proll Tape. This Proll Tape is packed with 2 different size options, large and small. The small size is offered at IDR33,000, while the large size costs IDR38,000 per box.
“For Proll Tape, the best-selling flavor variant is raisin cheese. The Proll Tape ere can last for one month if stored in the refrigerator, and if left out of the refrigerator it can last for about one week. For the cassava raw materials used, we source directly from cassava farmers in the Jember area. Currently we have around 30 staffs in the production house. And for Primadona itself, we already have 3 branches,” Rendra remarked.
Apart from providing Suwar Suwir and Proll Tape, the Primadona gift shop also provides many other choices such as Edamame Pie, Crispy Edamame, frozen or ready-to-eat edamame, Dodol Tape, Lung Chips, Shrimp Paste, original Vicco chocolate from Jember, ground coffee, original Jember cigars, edamame juice, and many others. [traveltex.id]
