EXTRACTIBILITY OF OIL FROM COCONUT AT LOW TEMPERATURE AND UTILIZATION OF RESIDUE FOR FOOD USES.

Abstract

Coconut is a valuable comrpodity in Sri Lanka as it provides a range of edible and .non-edible products. Among the edible commodities of coconut oil and coconut milk are very important.However techniques of oil extraction need to be improved because contamination and denature of protein due to high heat applied. By products of oil extraction have a big potential for further utilization. Therefore study was earned out to investigate the extractibility of coconut oil at lower temperature and to utilize the residue as a source of coconut milk. Dried coconut scrape was pressed by using domestic coconut oil making instrument at room temperature to obtain oil which was then heated 60°C for 10 - 1 5 minutes. After heating the oil was filtered for purification. The residue, partial defatted coconut scrape, was micropulverized to get uniform phase. The micropulverized powder was either directly packed or used for obtaining a finer powder form. For these purposes milk extracted from the micropulverized powder was mixed with 10 % malto dextrin dry matter basis.Subsequently the milk was spray dried, the powder resulted was packaged. According to the chemical analysis conducted on defatted and spray dried samples are relatively rich in protein and low in fat. They are 21%, 7.43 % protein and 35.26 %, 41% fat respectively. Free Fatty Acid value of coconut oil was changed during the period of four months by O.OPI although it still remains within the standard level. According to the result of triangle test there is no significant difference for coconut sumbol and coconut milk curry (kirihodhi) prepared by using freshly scrape coconut and developed defatted coconut.According to the sensory evaluation where the panelists who correctly identify odd sample in triangle test, average difference were moderate for both sumbol and milk curry. It was also found that the water activity in the spray dried powder was in the range 0.11 - 0.32. After the powder stored in a polyethylene, showed an increased water activity up to the range of 0.64 - 0.70. Therefore, the product is hygroscope and need moisture proof material for packing.According to the analysis of fiber content in the residue of milk separation was14.4 %.Therefore the residue can be a good source of fiber.