PREPARATION OF SHELF STABLE READY TO SERVE (RTS) BEVERAGE BASED ON TENDER COCONUT (Cocos nucifera L.)

Abstract

Tender coconut is commercially underutilized tree nut for beverage production. This research was conducted to find out the best formulation for preparation of RTS tender coconut beverage and to evaluate its composition and the shelf life.Differentformulations of beverage were prepared using varying proportion of7-month maturity coconut kernel and coconut water with pectin and sugar as main ingredients. Best kernel: water ratio and sugar level were selected by using sensory evaluation. Suitable pectin level was selected by visual observation of the sediment height. Microbial stability of the product was evaluated for a range of selected pasteurization temperatures and time. Best formula for the tender coconut RTS beverage was 1:7 kernels to coconut water, 10% total soluble solids and 0.3% pectin and the best selected processing conditions were 13000rpm for 2 minutes homogenization pressure and pasteurization for 5minutes at 100oC temperature. Proximate analysis and sensory evaluation were carried out for the selection of best treatment that was identified by above preliminary trials. Sensory evaluation for the final product was conducted using 50 untrained panelistswith 7-point hedonic scale. Result was analyzed according to Freidman test at 95% significant level. In proximate analysis of the final product, total solid, protein, fat, sugar, crude fiber and total ash contents were found to be 10.35%,0.3%, 0.45%,8.67%, 0.31% and0.49% respectively. Moreover, results show that the beverage contains 364.52 mg K+, 28.31 mg Na+, 23.49 mg Mg2+ and 44.21 mg Ca2+ per 100 mL. In accordance with the shelf life studies, it was found that the formulated product can be kept for minimum of 8 weeks and it was sterile throughout the storage period. Results revealed that an organolepticallyaccepted tender coconut based RTS beverage with its kernel can be formulated