COCONUT FLOUR PRODUCTION

COCONUT FLOUR PRODUCTION. COCONT (Cocos nucifera)

We are going to be looking at coconut as a raw material to other food products that can bring in the cash. You know what I mean … yea cash. There is a lot of business opportunity by adding value to coconut.

I finally found out that coconut which I have thought before now is a nut is not a nut but a drupe (stone fruit). Coconut is a member of the family Arecaceae (Palm Family).

Coconut is very nutritious. It contains carbohydrate, fat, protein, vitamin c, vitamin B-6, sodium, potassium, calcium, manganese, iron, phosphorus, and zinc.

Coconut a cash crop can be sourced in large quantities from Lagos, Cross- River, Rivers, Bayelsa, Delta, and Akwa-Ibom,

The following food products can be produced from coconut:

Coconut flour

Virgin coconut oil

Coconut Milk

Coconut chips/flakes

Coconut yogurt

We will be looking at how to produce the above products and their market potential in our subsequent posts. If you don’t want to miss out on these posts kindly follow us.

Kindly leave your questions and comment in the comment section below.

COCONUT FLOUR PRODUCTION

Coconut flour is off-white to cream in color with a slightly nutty flavor. It is rich in protein and fiber. The protein and fiber content depends on the processing method used to produce the flour. Coconut flour can be used in the baking and confectioneries industries to produce various baked products and confectioneries. Coconut flour can be blended with wheat flour as composite flour to produce bread, cake, biscuit e.t.c this will increase the protein and fiber content of these products.

Coconut flour can be produced through the following processes

• Wet(milk extraction) process
• Dry(oil extraction) process

WET/MILK EXTRACTION PROCESSING STEPS

EQUIPMENT: Grater, Grinder, Spinner, Dryer, Milling and weighing scale.

Grating: Remove the coconut flesh from the shell. Grate the coconut flesh using your grater to reduce the size.

Grinding: Grind the grated coconut using the grinding machine.

Spinning: Spin/press the grounded coconut to extract the milk.

Drying: Dry the residue obtained after extracting the milk in a cabinet dryer to reduce the moisture content.

Milling: Mill the dry residue into fine coconut flour.

Cooling: Cool milled coconut flour before packaging to reduce the heat generated as a result of milling.

Packaging: Weigh the required amount of coconut flour into packaging materials i.e. plastic bag or paper bag. Seal bags and label bags.

NB: Coconut flour produced from wet/milk extraction process contains high fiber content.

DRY/OIL EXTRACTION PROCESSING STEPS

EQUIPMENT: Grater, Dryer, Expeller, Milling machine and weighing scale

Grating: Remove coconut flesh from the shell. Grate coconut flesh into smaller sizes.

Drying:  Dry the grated coconut in the dryer to give copra.

Expelling:  Extract oil from copra (Dried Coconut flesh) with the expeller.

Drying: Dry the residue after extracting oil from dried coconut flesh.

Milling: Mill the dried residue into coconut flour.

Cooling: Cool milled coconut flour before packaging to reduce the heat generated as a result of milling.

Packaging: Weigh the required amount of coconut flour into packaging materials i.e. plastic bag, sacks or paper bag. Seal and label

NB: Coconut flour produced from dry/oil extraction process is rich in protein.

There you have it coconut flour Production. Hope you understand the process of making coconut flour.  Kindly leave your questions and comment in the comment section below.