KOTA KINABALU: When Rojaliah Hanti saw a Facebook post by Universiti Malaysia Sabah (UMS) senior researcher Dr Jurry Foo on how to make cabbage floss last year, the Kampung Libang resident from Ranau decided to try it herself.

       Due to the first movement control order then, the children’s nursery she runs was not operational while growers in Ranau had a surplus of cabbage as they were unable to sell their produce.

       The 46-year-old mother of four decided to put a spin on the dish based on her own recipe for tuhau (Sabah’s wild ginger) floss, and shared it with friends and neighbours.

       “They asked if I was planning to sell it – and so on April 14 last year, we started to produce 'serunding kobis' on a commercial scale and sell it," she told The Star on Tuesday (Aug 10).

       With the aim of helping her own community, she recruited five housewives and a single mother for the production, and her 26-year-old daughter to help with online marketing.

       “We also wanted to help the Kundasang cabbage farmers. The other ingredients like anchovies were obtained from a Tawau business partner while white pepper was supplied by farmers from our district.

       “During the first MCO, cabbage was sold as low as 50 sen per kilo, but now it has risen to RM3.50, even higher than before the Covid-19 pandemic hit.

       “While we initially just sold it to friends and people in Ranau district, you can now buy serunding kobis online at Shopee.

       Two of Ranau's Kampung Libang housewives which are part of Rojaliah Hanti’s team of staff, preparing cabbages to make the cabbage floss.

       "There are plans for a physical presence in other areas of Sabah; we are working on this deal with a supermarket franchise,” she said.

       Admitting that the business faced challenges as it was home-based, Rojaliah said they still do things traditionally including chopping the ingredients with knives and not machinery.

       However, her brother and and her son cobbled together an oil filter to use in the production process.

       “The team of housewives will come over two or three times a week for processing and we work from morning to late afternoon, at their convenience.

       “Another limitation that we face is sometimes the cabbage supply goes bad. If the supplier sends the vegetables today and it rains, the stock will go bad as we can only process it the following day. That is one of the risks,” she said.

       Rojaliah said the cabbage floss is currently sold in 60g (RM7) and 120g (RM13) packets.

       She hoped to receive government assistance in future so they could have better tools, packaging and marketing, and break into the international market as well.

       “Maybe the people here are used to cabbage because it is a local product, but I want to promote Ranau as the best cabbage producer and make us proud of our produce.

       “Who knows, in future someone might create other products from cabbage like biscuits or ice-cream.

       “If there is good promotion it is not impossible for Ranau cabbage to gain a (reputation) globally,” she said, adding they are thankful to Jurry for her help in promoting their products under the RH Serunding Kubis brand.

       According to Jurry, Rojaliah was one of three women entrepreneurs who took the business idea seriously and went into production.

       The other two are based in the Keningau and Tenom districts.

       She added that two more women from Kundasang and Kota Kinabalu have also been making cabbage floss as a source of side income.

       The innovation of producing cabbage floss by UMS's team of researchers led by Jurry initially aimed to help Ranau farmers with their unsold vegetables during the MCO.

       “As a social scientist, I suggested a social innovation where the vegetables are processed using local wisdom, creating a better management system of agricultural resources during movement restrictions.

       "This includes the knowledge and skills already available in the community such as pickling (jeruk), drying and frying (as in tuhau floss production)," she said.

       When no farmers at the time seemed directly interested to turn it into a business, Jurry opened it to the public through online workshops via Facebook.

       The UMS team recently received recognition for this innovation submitted to the National Innovation and Invention Competition Through Exhibition (iCompEx) 2021 organised virtually by Politeknik Sultan Abdul Halim Mu’adzam Shah, winning the gold award in the Service and Product Marketing Category.