Wooden fish (keumamah) is a traditional food made from tuna (Euthynnus affinis) coated with wheat flour and be drained. During the process of storage and marketing of wooden fish is often contaminated by certain types of mold, especially Aspergillus sp. The presence of mold contaminants would reduce the wooden fish quality and dangerous for consumption. It is therefore necessary natural ingredients that can act as a preservative, one of which is chitosan. The purpose of this study was to analyze the long wooden fish optimum soaking in a solution of chitosan to produce wooden fish that have a longer shelf life than fish-covered wood flour. The study begins by preparing chitosan from shrimp shells. Chitosan is extracted from shrimp shells, with a solution of NaOH and HCl and dried at a temperature of 65°C. Wooden fish with chitosan coating is done by soaking the fish in a timber with 1.5% chitosan larutam time variation of 0, 15, 30, 45, 60 and 75 minutes. The fish dried in the sun to harden fish such as timber, stored at room temperature (± 30°C). Test storability of wooden fish is done until a certain time limit (4 weeks), namely on days 0, 7, 14, 21, and 28, through organoleptic (color, texture, aroma and taste) and mold on the fish population analysis of timber. The results showed that soaking the fish for 60-75 minutes in a solution of chitosan 1.5% (w/v) to produce the most good organoleptic value, with no evidence of mold growth on the shelf life of 28 days so that the wooden fish unfit for consumption.

Chitosan, Wooden Fish, Edible Coating, Mold