A palm tree family product that can compete in the world’s US$10 billion market. Last week, we brought you the coconut-oil story, a palm tree family product that is a money spinner any day. The palm family is a vast one. In the family are over 2500 species with sizes from 12 inches to massive varieties which can reach heights of 150 feet. The vast majority of palm trees grow naturally in tropical areas of the world, with more than half of the known species coming from tropical Asia . Nearly 1,000 species are native to the American tropics, with lesser numbers of species occurring on islands in the Indian Ocean near Africa and in Africa itself. The specie in question here is the coconut tree from which we can obtain coconut water and coconut oil.
According to Coconut Research Centre, the coconut provides a nutritious source of meat, juice, milk, and oil that has fed and nourished populations around the world for generations. It states that in many islands coconut is a staple in the diet and provides the majority of the food eaten and that nearly one third of the world’s population depends on coconut to some degree for their food and their economy. Among these cultures the coconut has a long and respected history. Of concern to us today is coconut water, that water in coconut’s hollow space that is often thrown away by consumers of raw coconut.
Attributes
• Coconut water contains the following among many other attributes:
• Contains organic compounds possessing healthy growth, promoting properties than have been known to help;
• Keeps body cool at the proper temperature;
• Orally rehydrates your body, it is an all natural isotonic beverage;
• Raise metabolism;
• Promote weight loss;
• Cleanse digestive system;
• Detoxify and fights viruses;
• Control diabetes;
• Treat kidney and urethral stones;
• Boost poor circulation;
• More nutritious than whole milk;
• More healthy than orange juice;
• Pure, full of natural sugars, salts and vitamins to ward off fatigue.
• How do we bottle coconut water for sale? The Food Agricultural Organisation (FAO) has done some work on this as follows:
A simple cold preservation process keeps bottled coconut water fresh for up to three weeks...
The traditional method for extracting coconut water is extremely simple: 1) climb a coconut palm; 2) hack an immature coconut from the bunch; 3) trim off the husk and chop a hole in the top; and 4) drink the contents (steps 3 and 4 are best done on terra firma).
Among people in tropical countries with ready access to coconut palms - or to fresh coconuts sold by urban street vendors - coconut water is renowned as a refreshing, highly nourishing drink with a delicate aroma and flavour. But, despite coconut water’s potential as a competitor in the bottled beverage market (see box below), attempts to capture those qualities in a commercial product have been largely unsuccessful. Once exposed to air, coconut water begins to ferment, and rapidly loses most of its organoleptic and nutritional characteristics. To eliminate the risk of bacterial growth, commercial bottlers are forced to sterilize the product using high-temperature/short-time pasteurization (the same technology used in long-life milk), which destroys some of coconut water’s nutrients and almost all of the flavour.
Coconut “sports drink”
Now, after more than five years of research and testing, FAO has announced a simple cold preservation technology appropriate for small and medium-sized agro-industries that allows them to produce bottled coconut water which, under refrigeration, stays fresh for from 10 days to three weeks. That is long enough to satisfy domestic retail markets and to allow export to developed countries, where good quality coconut water is in growing demand. FAO is also finalizing publications on a more technologically sophisticated microfiltration technique for cold sterilization (details here), and a low-tech system that can be used by street vendors.
Training guide
The mid-range technology, developed in Jamaica in collaboration with the University of the West Indies, the Coconut Industries Board and the Scientific Research Council, is described in a new FAO training guide, Good practices for the production of bottled coconut water, to be published in English, French and Spanish early in 2007. Says Rosa Rolle, an FAO food biochemist who coordinated development of the process: “While microfiltration can guarantee a commercially sterile product, it requires skills and investments that are often beyond the capacity of small and medium-scale processors. What we aimed for was a technology that is easier to implement and costs less, but ensures good quality and reasonable shelf-life in a convenient format that satisfies consumer demand for a ‘natural product’.”
Essentially, the cold preservation process involves filtration to remove particulates that might mar the coconut water’s appearance, bottling under hygienic conditions and rigorous temperature control. But the guide points out that the coconut water processing chain - like that of any other food product - is only as strong as its weakest link. Good practices need to be applied at every step, from harvesting, loading and transporting to cutting, bottling and sale.
The starting point is selection of coconuts suitable for processing. Key considerations are the variety - e.g. Jamaica ’s Maypan hybrid tree yields larger volumes of water than other varieties - and the fruit’s stage of maturity: maximum yields of water, of around one litre, are consistently obtained from nine-month old coconuts. Quality also depends on how carefully the coconuts are harvested. Bunches should be lowered to the ground with a rope, not cut and dropped, to avoid the risk of cracking the internal shell (studies at the University of the West Indies show that water collected from coconuts that had been dropped from a height of 8 m suffered high levels of spoilage).
Quality specifications
FAO-funded research indicates that coconut water of good drinking quality is clear and colourless, with pH of 5 to 5.4 and a Brix level (a measurement of sugar concentration) of 5 to 6.5. Per millilitre, it should have a total microbiological count of less than 5,000, less than 10 of coliform bacteria, and zero faecal coliform. For small-scale processors without access to a laboratory for microbiological testing, the manual recommends some simple measures, such as checking the product for traces of fermentation or foreign objects, and giving it a “nose test” - a rancid odour, for example, indicates that the small quantity of fats in the liquid have oxidized.
The guide points out that “coconuts are living material”, and continue to breathe after harvest: “The higher the temperature of a coconut at harvest, the more rapidly will it respire in the post-harvest phase and the more rapidly will its constituents undergo physiological changes, leading to deterioration.” A range of other factors can negatively affect the quality of coconut water. During production, they include contamination by pesticides residues, and heavy metals entering the fruit through soil or water. Post-harvest, micro-organisms can be introduced through improper handling and processing, leading to rapid fermentation.
Even under ideal conditions, water should be extracted within 24 hours of harvest. During inspection, poor quality coconuts - those with cracks, cloudy water or a rancid odour - should be rejected, while those of good quality need to be kept on clean surfaces to avoid contact with soil and chemical agents, and stored away from the sun. Selected coconuts should then be washed in potable water to remove dirt, debris or other forms of surface contamination, and sanitized in a 1% bleach solution for at least 15 minutes. Finally, the coconuts should be transferred to a clean surface, off the ground, and air-dried.

Rapid cooling
Now comes the easy part: extracting the precious liquid. That is done by first trimming the husk with a sanitized stainless steel cutlass, then opening the shell. The water inside is decanted into a sanitized container equipped with a strainer lined with a sanitized silk screen or cotton cloth. The filtered water should be promptly transferred to a cooling tank and cooled to 4°C, or placed in a freezer for three to four hours. Where large volumes of coconut water are to be bottled, the use of a refrigerated cooling tank for rapid cooling is highly recommended. Waste material - mainly husks - must be removed from the processing environment and promptly disposed of.
The water must be quickly bottled and sealed - in bottles that have been rinsed in potable water and sanitized for 15 minutes - then stored in a chiller at 4°C. The bottling facility needs to be clean and “free of animals, insects, dust or garbage”, and physically separate from area where the coconuts are cut open.
“Bacteria and yeasts are the main micro-organisms that threaten freshly bottled coconut water,” the FAO guide says. It is critical, therefore, that the temperature of the bottled water be kept at between 0 and 4°C during transportation in order to preserve quality and to prolong shelf-life. Finally, the manual advises, processors need to make sure that their product is handled with care after delivery: “Monitor retail outlets to ensure that the bottled coconut water is stored at the correct temperature and away from direct light”.
New processing technology for street vendors, too
Two familiar sights in many tropical countries are coconut water vendors hauling piles of fresh coconuts - and mounds of empty husks discarded in the street after use. Now, along with its medium-scale cold processing technology, FAO has developed a mobile freezing unit for street vendors that keeps coconut water fresh for 24 hours. Designed in collaboration with the Philippines ‘ Industrial Technology Development Institute, the unit is insulated with a mixture of ice and salt, which cools freshly collected coconut water to below 4°C. Instead of hauling coconuts from rural areas into cities, vendors can collect the water “at source”, reducing both their transport costs and the quantity of urban garbage.