Coconut Power

The fresh matured coconuts are de-husked and de-shelled. The de-shelling is done by a special knife to get the kernel in the form of a ball, which is pared using scrapers to remove the testa. The pared kernel balls are then cut open to drain off the water and then washed thoroughly in fresh water to remove the invert sugars from the inner surface of the kernel. The kernel is then ground into a fine mass using hammer or pin mills. The ground mass is blanched with live steam for about 20 minutes to bring down the microbiological counts. The blanched mass is then dried in a hot air drier at a temperature of 80-90oC for about 10 hours so as to bring down the moisture content to below 3 per cent. The hot air drier is provided with a drying chamber consisting of a series of trays, which hold the feed. Hot air is blown into this chamber from an external source through blowers. The dried mass is tested for moisture, free fatty acid and microbiological counts. The product is packed in polythene pouches. The brown testa obtained during paring of kernel can be dried and the oil extracted which is known as paring oil. The dried brown testa can also be mixed with copra during the extraction of oil.