Finely ground desiccated coconut meat was incubated in an aqueous medium at 50-55ºC with a commercially available enzyme system.After incubation, the coconut slurry was centrifuged into four parts: a clear oil phase, an emulsion layer, an aqueous phase, and a solid phase consisting of the extracted coconut meal.The enzymatic treatment released about 84% of the oil present in the starting coconut meat, producing a brilliant, light yellow oil that had the characteristic pleasant coconut aroma. Some of the water in the aqueous phase was removed to produce a more concentrated protein solution with intense coconut flavour. The wet solid phase was freeze dried, and then extracted with aqueous alkali, dissolving nearly 88% of the protein from the solid. Centrifugation separated the extract solution from the insoluble residue.The acidification of the extract to the isoelectric region precipitated 93.5% of the dissolved protein. The freeze-dried precipitated coconut protein was a fine, odourless white powder with ~90% (N×6.25) protein content.
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ARTICLE INFORMATION
Revised: 2002-12-28 Accepted: 2002-12-28 Available Online: 2003-03-01
Cite this article:
Chen, B.-K., Diosady, L.-L. 2003. Enzymatic Aqueous Processing of Coconuts, International Journal of Applied Science and Engineering, 1, 55–61. https://doi.org/10.6703/IJASE.2003.1(1).55
