Characteristics Of Nata De Coco

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Philippines are the place where many species of coconut can be found. Every component of coconut tree can be utilized. For example, from coconut fruits, it can produce several kinds of popular food and beverages such as coconut milk shake or nata de coco. Even though nata de coco is originated from Philippines but in 1993, Japanese people especially young people considered nata de coco a popular dessert; however, its popularity declined because their interest moved to another trendy dessert. Nata de coco is highly regarded for its high dietary fiber, and its low fat and cholesterol content. Besides that, no preservatives or other chemicals are added to Nata de coco. A researched by Japanese Food Scientists has proven Nata De Coco is an excellent deterrent of intestinal cancer and many other gastrointestinal disorders (Ma Bo Food, 2009).

Some of the characteristics of Nata de coco are chewy, translucent, jelly-like and it is an indigenous dessert. On top of that, Nata de coco is most commonly sweetened as a candy or dessert, and can accompany many things including pickles, drinks, ice cream, puddings and fruit mixes. It is produced by the bacterial fermentation of coconut water. Nata de coco is produced by the fermentation of coconut water or coconut milk, which gels through the production of microbial cellulose by Acetobacter xylinus. Acetobacter xylinum is the most efficient and widely used cellulose-producing bacterium in fermenting the coconut water to produce the nata de coco. Chemical purities are one of the most important features of microbial cellulose, which distinguishes it from that of plants and is usually associated with hemicelluloses and lignin. Interesting properties of microbial cellulose allow nata de coco to con...

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...rving an aroma. Ultrafiltration used to extraction of small molecules from a solution and enzymes, such as PPO and POD. It also can prevent enzymatic discoloration from coconut water. Then, Ultrafiltration can retain most of the minerals present in coconut water compare to pasteurization technique (Prades, 2014). Apart from that, by using high speed centrifugation followed by microfiltration and aseptic packaging can preserve coconut water for a period of at least six months.
Few studies have dealt with the quality and shelf life of processed coconut water. Concerning shelf life, it is clear that neither classical thermal pasteurization nor sterilization, nor microfiltration were sufficient to obtain a shelf-stable product without additives. Efficient results were obtained by adding molecules such as nisin, ascorbic acid or citric acid and sodium metabisulphite.

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