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PurposeThe purpose of this study is to investigate the attitude and awareness towards Istihalah of Muslim Malaysian students in Universiti Sains Malaysia, Penang. This study aims to indicate the alertness of Muslim students about Istihalah in their daily life.Design/methodology/approachA total of 450 students from the university were selected using a stratified random sampling technique. The self‐administered questionnaire focused on attitude and awareness towards Istihalah and their interest to learn more about Istihalah.FindingsA total of 99.1 percent of respondents agreed that the Muslim community lack of exposure about the Istihalah concept. Male students are more agreeable than female students (100.0 percent vs 98.2 percent). More than 94.7 percent of the respondents believe that Istihalah concept is very important to Muslim consumers. A total of 100.0 percent of the respondents are interested to know more about Istihalah.Research limitations/implicationsThe respondents in this research were Muslim students in Universiti Sains Malaysia. The results of this research are only applicable to the subjected community. Therefore, any generalization of the findings on the whole or other Muslim communities should be avoided.Originality/valueThis paper is the first paper produced to investigate the attitude and awareness towards Istihalah among Muslim students, not only in Universiti Sains Malaysia, Penang but also the Muslim community as a whole. This paper will provide new information on the attitude and awareness of students towards Istihalah and the product of Istihalah as there no records on the matter prior to this. It will also be the pioneer to future research on this matter.

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The Sul 1 cacao (Theobroma cacao) genotype has become more popular among cocoa producers due to its resistance toward vascular streak dieback, a devastating dieback disease in cacao plants. Sul 1 cocoa beans were subjected to prolonged fermentation of 10 days (240 h). Changes in the composition of methylxanthines, polyphenols, and volatiles and sensory profiles of the cocoa beans as affected by fermentation were analyzed. The first 48 h of fermentation significantly determined the composition of the methylxanthines and polyphenols in the cocoa beans. A prolonged fermentation (>96 h) period did not further reduce the contents of methylxanthines and polyphenols in the cocoa beans. Important volatiles characteristic of the cocoa/chocolate flavor were mostly developed after 48 h of fermentation. The fermentation for 72 h retained considerable amounts of methylxanthines and polyphenols in the beans while producing cocoa mass with good sensory profiles.