**4. Conclusions**

Numerous studies have proven the health benefits of EBN consumption, leading to an increase in the EBN farming business. However, the physicochemical and chemical characteristics of different shapes of EBNs have scarcely been reported. The findings from this study conclude that two different shapes (half-cup and stripe-shaped) of EBN comprise different physicochemical (physical, morphology, elemental composition, and microbial content) and chemical (crude protein content and amino acid profile) characteristics. In addition, optimum hydrolysis produces desirable effects on the extraction yield, soluble protein, sialic acid content, molecular weight, and protein profile. The extraction temperature (73 to 80 ◦C) applied in this study influences the yield, protein concentration, and solubility of EBNs. This contributes to the identification of potentially bioactive compounds, proteins, and peptides after different extraction methods. Thus, it is important to fully characterize EBNs before grading. Simultaneously, these findings can be a reference method for optimizing food preparation for EBN products by both industry and consumers. This research could be a reference for further studies on EBN biological activity.

**Author Contributions:** Conceptualization, N.N.M.N. and R.M.I.; Methodology, N.N.M.N. and R.M.I.; Software, N.N.M.N. and R.M.I.; Validation, N.N.M.N. and R.M.I.; Formal analysis, N.N.M.N. and R.M.I.; Investigation, N.N.M.N. and R.M.I.; Resources, R.M., M.Z.A.B. and N.A.A.R.; Data curation, N.N.M.N. and R.M.I.; Writing, N.N.M.N. and R.M.I.; Writing—review and editing, N.A.A.R.; Visualization, N.N.M.N. and R.M.I.; Supervision, R.M., M.Z.A.B. and N.A.A.R.; Project administration, R.M., M.Z.A.B. and N.A.A.R.; Funding acquisition, N.A.A.R. All authors have read and agreed to the published version of the manuscript.

**Funding:** This work was supported by the Research Management Centre, Universiti Putra Malaysia (UPM) under Putra Grant-Putra Young Initiative (IPM) [grant number: 9543900].

**Data Availability Statement:** The physicochemical analysis (physical, morphology, elemental composition, and microbial content), chemical analysis (crude protein and amino acid), sialic acid analysis and extraction effects on soluble protein and molecular weight data used to support the findings are provided within the article.

**Acknowledgments:** The authors are thankful to the Natural Medicine and Products Research Laboratory, Institute of Bioscience, UPM; Department of Chemistry, Faculty of Science, UPM; Technical Services & Technology Commercialization Centre, Malaysian Agricultural Research and Development Institute (MARDI) for providing infrastructure and technical support for the analysis. We are grateful for the financial support by the Research Management Centre of UPM.

**Conflicts of Interest:** The authors declare no conflict of interest. The funders had no role in the design of the study; in the collection, analyses, or interpretation of data; in the writing of the manuscript, or in the decision to publish the results.
