Emping production is a home industry, with emping traditionally handmade in a labor-intensive process. The
melinjo seeds are
sauteed in a medium fire without oil, or sometimes using sand as a media. Some people boil the
melinjo seeds to ease the peeling process. Both the softer outer skin and the harder inner skin of the seeds are peeled off by hand. Each of the gnetum seeds is whacked with a wooden hammer-like instrument or pressed with a stone cylinder to create flat and round emping, and later arranged in a tray made of weaved bamboo and sun-dried for a whole day. Each emping chip is commonly created from a single gnetum nut, although there are variants that combine several seeds to create larger emping with sizes similar to
krupuk. These large emping, however, are often mixed with other types of starch, such as
corn or tuber starch. There are two types of emping thickness available in markets, thin and thick. Thin emping are usually plain or salty, while thick emping are usually sweet, coated with caramelized sugar, or spiced with chili pepper. The dried emping chips are collected, packed, and sold at the market. Raw emping, as bought from traditional markets, are better when sun-dried first to reduce their humidity, then later fried with ample hot
vegetable oil until they expand, becoming crispy and turning golden yellow. Emping is produced in many parts of Indonesia, from
Limpung in
Central Java,
Pidie in
Aceh to
Sulawesi. However, the main production areas are in
Java, with Karangtawang village in
Kuningan Regency West Java;
Bantul Regency in
Yogyakarta;
Klaten Regency and
Batang Regency, in Central Java; and
Magetan Regency in
East Java. == Consumption ==