The Department of Science and Technology (DOST) has tapped the expertise of scientists from the University of the Philippines Mindanao to develop coconut water and turn it into powder.
Using a spray dryer developed by the Industrial Technology Development Institute and the Metals Industry Research and Development Center, a team of food scientists from UP Mindanao has completed the process of converting coconut water into powder. “We are still doing further research to determine the nutrient retention capacity,” DOST Region 11 director Anthony Sales told the Philippine Star.
The project aims to help coconut water become more conventional for the benefit of thousands of coconut farmers and coconut product manufacturers. Coconut powder can be used in baking biscuits, snack bars, cakes, pastries as well as in making jams and jellies and flavoring for ice cream and has a much lower price compared with the ready-to-drink version, thus, making it more affordable for more consumers.
“We are very happy that our investments in various R&D efforts have resulted in many significant breakthroughs and that our Filipino scientists, engineers and researchers are showing they can deliver if only you will invest and gamble on them,” former DOST Secretary Mario Montejo told PhilStar.
Montejo sent 17 regional directors to Thailand in 2013 to study the coconut water market, which has grown by leaps and bounds with the continuous development of by-products. Upon their return to the Philippines, the DOST regional directors reported that Thailand utilized high-tech food processing machines such as spray dryers, vacuum dryers, freeze dryers, and vacuum sealers to turn coconut water into powder.
Based on the Philippine Coconut Authority’s 2011 statistics, nearly a third of the country’s farmland is dedicated to coconut farming.
