FREEZE-DRIED COCONUT WATER POWDER PROCESSING FOR NATURAL HEALTH DRINK

Coconut water is one of the natural health drinks with high vitamins, minerals and medicinal properties. However, it rapidly deteriorates once exposed to air and warm temperatures and loses most of its nutritional benefits. High temperature processing destroys some of the nutrients in coconut water and almost the entire delicate flavor. This severe limitation will affect product marketing. It is, therefore, considered desirable to process coconut water into powdered products that retain the ‘fresh’ natural flavor and nutritional benefits to meet demand of the natural health drink market. Technology was already developed in which freeze-dried coconut water powder retains the same quality of the fresh one and implemented at the Freeze-dried Pilot Plant, Industrial Park, King Mongkut’s University of Technology Thonburi. The results show one ton of coconut water produced 63.8±2.7 kg of freeze-dried coconut water powder. The quality of coconut water powder was analyzed to compare vitamins, minerals and nutritional properties with the fresh coconut water. It was near identical to the fresh one. The processing of coconut water with tender coconut meat was proposed for further study to add value to coconut water for health benefits and make it feasible for commercial production.