Cost effective technology for home scale and small scale production of virgin coconut oil

Abstract

The investigation on “Cost effective technology for home scale and small scale production of virgin coconut oil” was carried out during the period 2013- 2015 at the Department of Plantation Crops and Spices, College of Agriculture, Vellayani, Kerala to standardise the cost effective technique for home scale and small scale production of virgin coconut oil through fermentation, induced fermentation and centrifugation and to compare the technology developed with the traditional boiling method.The study was conducted in four experiments and the coconuts for the experimental purpose were collected from the variety WCT (West Cost Tall). Standardisation of fermentation method was done by extracting coconut milk with coconut water (CM+CW 1:1) and with water in the ratio 1:1 (CM+W 1:1) and 1:2 (CM+W 1:2) and kept for 24, 36 and 48 hours for fermentation. The oil recovered was subjected to drying at 40, 45 and 50°C and the sensory parameters and percentage oil recovery were significantly superior at 50°C. The fermentation method was replicated during June- July, Nov- Dec and March- April. The atmospheric conditions was not congenial for the VCO production during Nov- Dec. The oil recovery was nil below an atmospheric temperature of 31.05°C. The maximum relative humidity when the oil was separated ranged from 90.50 per cent to 97 per cent. The minimum relative humidity during that period ranged from 67 per cent to 83 per cent. For the standardisation of induced fermentation method, isolation of microorganisms from fermented coconut milk at 24 and 36 h was done and the best isolate identified belonged to the genus Lactobacillus. Induced fermentation with one per cent of Lactobacillus broth showed significantly higher oil recovery compared to natural fermentation.Standardisation of virgin coconut oil production by centrifugation was also carried out by extracting coconut milk after 10 hours of chilling at different revolutions per minute (rpm) and time. The coconut milk extracted with coconut water at 12000 rpm for 15 minutes and dried at 50°C recorded significantly higher oil recovery (28.087 per cent). The virgin coconut oil produced by fermentation, induced fermentation and centrifugation were compared with traditional boiling method. A higher oil recovery and B:C ratio with minimum refractive index was observed under centrifugation while moisture content, specific gravity, relative density, acid value, peroxide value, iodine value, polenske value and saponification value did not vary significantly between different methods of extraction. The yellowing index and sensory parameters like odour and taste were significantly superior for traditional method while unsaponifiable matter, total phenolic content, free radical scavenging activity, total antioxidant capacity and the reducing power were significantly superior for fermentation method. The shelf life of the VCO produced by different methods was less than 3 months. The fermentation, present study implies that virgin coconut oil produced by induced fermentation and centrifugation had better quality parameters, antioxidant properties and cost effectiveness compared to traditional boiling method. Fermentation method can be adopted for home scale production while centrifugation and induced fermentation can be suggested as a better method for small scale production of virgin coconut oil.