Processing of Coconut Water

Abstract

AbstractCoconut water is sterile and stable with its unique sensorial and nutritional qualities inside the fruit, but gets spoiled as soon as it is extracted and exposed to the outside. Pink color formation, browning, development of unpleasant flavours, and odors are some of the undesirable outcomes of the catalytic functions and microbial activity. In order to preserve the intrinsic quality attributes of nutraceutical and sensorial importance and to reduce the transportation volume and cost associated with whole fruit as well as to provide longer shelf life, adoption of suitable processing becomes necessary. This chapter describes various thermal and non-thermal methods as well as innovative newer technologies of processing coconut water aimed at inhibiting the enzymatic action, guaranteeing the microbiological stability in addition to maintaining its sensory and nutritional characteristics. The minimal processing of tender coconut ensures reducing the ratio of weight/volume of the fruit and provides an attractive look. The other aspects covered in this chapter are steps involved in minimal processing and different types of machineries developed for use in coconut water industry. The thermos-physical properties of coconut water in relation to processing are also elaborated here.