Evaluating the use of preservatives on the shelf life of tender coconut water

Abstract

Tender coconut water is a sweet, delicious and refreshing natural beverage. The sugar and mineral constituents attributes to the pleasant taste of tender coconut water. Due to the presence of sugars and a number of plant enzymes, tender coconut water has a strong tendency to undergo biochemical changes and spoilage, once the nut is harvested from the tree. Furthermore, coconut as a whole is bulky and perishable without proper packaging, which challenges the task of transportation of tender coconut water over a long distance. So, an attempt has been made to extend its shelf life in bottles, which will lead to easy transport and easy to serve. Design of the process was developed by considering the dependent variables (microbial population, sensory attributes) and independent variables (time, temperature, preservatives). The preservatives used for this study include potassium sorbate and sodium benzoate. During thermal sterilization process the flavour components were destroyed and palatability was not good and hence in-bottle sterilization was adopted in this study to retain the flavours and preserve tender coconut water. It was found that the tender coconut water preserved by the treatments T11 (Potassium Sorbate (@ 300 ppm) at 80 °C for 180 s) in the in-bottle sterilization had a shelf life of 3 months and T27 (sodium benzoate (@ 350 ppm) at 80 °C for 180 s) in the in-bottle sterilization was acceptable with the maximum shelf life of 1 month. By adopting this preservation technique, tender coconut water could be effectively stored and used for 70 days under refrigerated condition (4 °C).