The influence of steaming and a ratio of grated coconut to water on the yield and quality of virgin coconut oil

The quality of Virgin Coconut Oil (VCO) is determined by the quality of coconut milk. High quality of coconut milk can be obtained by proper handling of grated coconut as raw material. When coconut was shredded, the lipases are exposed which can hydrolyse the oil resulting free fatty acid (FFA). Steaming is a technique to inactivate lipases. In addition, a ratio of grated coconut to water and steaming duration are important factor to the VCO extraction. Therefore, this study aimed to obtain the best combination of steaming duration and suitable ratio of grated coconut to water in order to produce high quality VCO. The research design was Factorial Randomized Block Design consisted of 2 factors: steaming duration (5; 10; and 15 minutes) and grated coconut to water ratio (1: 0; 1: 1; 1: 2; 1: 3; and 1: 4 w/v), each treatment was repeated twice. Parameters analyzed were FFA, moisture content, and yield values. The result showed that the best treatment was a treatment with 15 minutes steaming of grated coconut and 1: 4 ratio of grated coconut to water. The best treatment VCO had characteristic as follows: FFA 0.054 %, moisture content 0.129 % and yield 17.563 %.