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Procedia
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Food Science
Procedia
Procedia –Food Science1 00
FoodScience (2011)
(2011) 000–000
1447 – 1453
www.elsevier.com/locate/procedia

11th International Congress on Engineering and Food (ICEF11)

Evaluation of green coconut (Cocos nucifera L.) pulp for use

as milk, fat and emulsifier replacer in ice cream
Inês Aparecida Santanaa*, Eliana Paula Ribeiroa, Antonia Miwa Igutia
Maua Institute of Technology, Praça Mauá 1, São Caetano do Sul, 09580-900, Brazil

Abstract

The green coconut water (6-8 months) is widely consumed in Brazil, but the edible pulp and husk are discarded
generating a large volume of waste. In our laboratory we have investigated the use of this pulp as an ingredient in
chocolate ice cream. The pulp replaced fat, milk, emulsifier and stabilizer, resulted in a product very similar to true
ice cream and was sensory approved by 93% of panelists. In the present study the objective is to characterize and
evaluate functional properties of green dwarf fresh and freeze-dried coconut (Cocos nucifera L.) pulp, using ice
cream of umbu (Spondias tuberosa), acid fruit of Brazilian Northeast, as a system to evaluate the influence of lipids
on product quality. Functional properties analyses and ice cream manufacture were performed with fresh pulp (FP),
freeze-dried pulp (FD) and defatted freeze-dried pulp (DFD).The proximate composition were 92.70% and 8.01%
moisture, 0.39% and 27.95% fat, 0.97 % and 19.9% protein, 0.75% and 10.72% ash and 5.19% and 33.42%
carbohydrate, respectively for FP and FD. The fatty acid composition is consistent with literature values for immature
dwarf coconut, with predominance of lauric acid (38.05%). The foaming capacity showed values of 120% for FP,
209% for egg white, 77.6% for FD and 70.8% for DFD. For emulsifying capacity, the volumes of soybean oil
required to cause inversion of the emulsion were 72.7 mL/g (dry basis), 19.17 mL/g, 28.9 mL/g and 28.3 mL/g,
respectively for FP, egg yolk, FD and DFD. The ice cream produced with defatted pulp showed 11% reduction in
overrun, increase in hardness and unchanged meltdown. The results indicate that green coconut pulp has foaming and
emulsifying capacities that can be used as milk, fat and emulsifier replacer in ice cream, even at low pH values, and
in other products.

©©2011 Published
2011 by Elsevier
Published by B.V. Selection
Elsevier Ltd.and/or peer-review
Selection underpeer-review
and/or responsibility ofunder
11th International Congress
responsibility of ICEF11
on Engineering and Food (ICEF 11) Executive Committee.
Executive Committee Members.

Keywords: Green coconut pulp; ice cream, foaming capacity, emulsifying capacity

1. Introduction

The coconut palm is cultivated in more than 90 tropical countries and it represents an important income
source. Indonesia, Philippines and India are the major producers and account for about 75% of world

* Corresponding author. Tel.: 55 11 4239-3078; fax:55 11 4239-3131.

E-mail address: iasantana@maua.br

2211–601X © 2011 Published by Elsevier B.V. Selection and/or peer-review under responsibility of 11th International Congress on Engineering
and Food (ICEF 11) Executive Committee.
doi:10.1016/j.profoo.2011.09.214
1448 InÍs Aparecida Santana et al. / Procedia Food Science 1 (2011) 1447 – 1453
2 I. A. Santana/ Procedia – Food Science 00 (2011) 000–000

production [1]. The whole coconut tree may be utilized, but the main products are obtained from the fruit:
copra and oil, lauric acid, coconut milk, fiber, flour, coconut water (from immature fruit), which are used
in several application, e.g. food, animal feed, soaps, detergents and cosmetics. Brazil is the 4th largest
producer and harvested around 2 billion fruits in 2010 [2]. The coconut cultivation in Brazil is not
intended for oil production, but the pulp is mainly used as raw material for production of shredded
coconut, coconut milk and other derivatives. The consumption of liquid albumen (or coconut water) of the
immature coconut is so important to this country, that resulted in deployment of crops aimed mainly to
this application, which does not happen in other producing countries. The increasing demand for natural
and healthy foods is one factor that has raised the consumption of this drink, that reaches around 350
million liters per year in fresh and industrialized form.
Besides highly appreciated for its taste and freshness, it is considered an excellent natural isotonic, so it
is also consumed for its nutritional qualities. Despite consumption of green coconut water is very
beneficial, the demand increasing for this product generates a very large amount of waste in places such
beaches where the consumption of this drink is common. The coconut husk corresponds to about 85% of
the fruit and has become a problem due to the large volume of waste generated and its slow degradation.
In recent years many research projects and process have been developed whose aim is coconut husk
reuse in rugs production and fabrics to soil protect, as substratum, paper and enzyme production,
supplemental feed, fiber incorporation into polymeric materials to thermal and acoustic insulation,
incorporation into construction materials for increased strength, treatment of effluents containing toxic
metals [3,4], vessel production to replace the xaxim (Dicksonia sellowiana), which has the extraction and
commercial exploitation prohibited due to extinction risk [5].
Although the solid endosperm or green coconut pulp is edible, generally only water is extracted from
fresh fruit. Unripe and mature coconut pulps have different characteristics, the ripe pulp is utilized both
for cooking and industrial processing, but the unripe, as well as the shell, are considered disposal. In our
laboratory we have investigated this pulp as food ingredient. In chocolate ice cream, for example, it was
efficient to replaced fat, milk, emulsifier and stabilizer. Without characteristic odor and flavor of mature
coconut, the product had 93% of sensory approval by panelists, who judged its texture and organoleptic
properties very similar to true ice cream.
More research is necessary regarding the composition and properties of this material, to understand its
air incorporation capacity in ice cream production considering that so far there are few studies on the
green coconut pulp.
The objective of this study was to characterize and evaluate functional properties of fresh and freeze-
dried pulp from green dwarf coconut (Cocos nucifera L.), using umbu ice cream system to evaluate the
influence of lipids on product quality. Umbu (Spondias tuberosa) is an acid fruit of Brazilian Northeast.

2. Materials & Methods

2.1. Sample preparation

Green coconuts (Cocos nucifera L.) were purchased at Ceasa (Supply Centre of Santo Andre, Brazil),
grown in Brazilian northern state of Paraiba. The fruits were washed and cut in two halves. The pulps
(figure 1) were removed, homogenized, and stored at -17± 2 °C. Fresh pulp of fruits in very early
maturation stage and freeze-dried pulp from fruits of different maturation stages, were chemically
characterized. Functional properties analyses and ice cream manufacture were performed with fresh pulp
(FP), freeze-dried pulp (FD) and defatted freeze-dried pulp (DFD).
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I. A. Santana/ Procedia – Food Science 00 (2011) 000–000 3

Fig. 1. Pulp of green coconut

2.2. Chemical characterization

Moisture, ash and protein measurements were performed according to AOAC standards [6]. To protein
content, nitrogen conversion factor of 6.25 was used. Lipid content in fresh and freeze-dried pulp was
determined by Bligh Dyer and percolation, respectively. The carbohydrate content was determined by
difference. The fat acid composition was determined after methylation of the oil extracted from FD with
H2SO4/MeOH [7]. The analysis of fatty acid methyl esters was performed in a Varian 3800 gas
chromatograph equipped with a capillary column FactorFour VF-5ms Varian (30m, 0.25 mm id) and a
flame ionization detector (FID). Column oven temperature was programmed from 80 to 220 ºC (12 min)
at rate of 5 ºC per min. The injector and detector temperature were 220 ºC.

2.3. Functional properties analyses

Foaming capacity was determined by measuring the volume of foam formed in the presence of
baking powder and water at 40 º C. Pulps were mixed with baking powder at a ratio of 10:2. The mixture
was homogenized and transferred to a 50 mL graduate cylinder where water was added at a ratio of 2:4.
The cylinder was maintained in water bath at 40 °C. The expansion of the foam was monitored by
recording the increase in the volume as function of time until maximum expansion. For comparison the
same test was performed with egg white [8]. Emulsifying capacity was determined by measuring the
volume of oil required to cause the inversion of the emulsion. 25 g of FP or 5 g of FD and 50 ml of water
were added in a 600 mL beaker where the mixture was homogenized with Ultra Turrax mixer, model
T50, IKA Labortechnik. Soybean oil was dispensed from a burette under continuous stirring until it
reached the emulsion inversion, detected by a multimeter [9]. Egg yolk emulsifying capacity was also
determined, for comparison.

2.4. Ice cream manufacture

Two formulations were performed. The first formulation was prepared with 5.5% FD, 20% umbu,
20% sucrose, 54.5% water. In the second formulation, the FD was replaced by DFD. The ingredients
were mixed at 38 ºC, pasteurized at 78 ºC for 2 min and homogenized. The mixes were aged at 5ºC for 24
hours. Then they were frozen in a lab scale ice cream maker, model ICE-20, Cuisinart. The products were
packaged and stored at -17± 2 ºC in appropriate flasks for posterior meltdown and hardness analyses.

2.5. Ice cream analyses

Total solids and pH were determined. Hardness: the ice cream was added to a 33 mL cylindrical
container and kept -17± 2 ºC for 48 hours. The measurements were obtained at room temperature (25 ºC
± 2 ºC), using a texture analyzer (TA-XT2i, Stable Microsystems Ltd., UK) equipped with a 5-mm
stainless steel cylindrical probe. The penetration speed of the probe was 2.0 mm/s to a distance of 20 mm
[10,11]. Meltdown was determined at 25 ºC± 2 ºC, 25-30 g samples were added to a 33 mL cylindrical
1450 InÍs Aparecida Santana et al. / Procedia Food Science 1 (2011) 1447 – 1453
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container, stored for 24 hours at -17± 2 ºC, and placed on a sieve with 2-mm openings, suspended over a
balance and the mass of the drained ice cream was recorded as a function of time. The melting
characteristic was reported as first dripping time and the time needed for half of the initial mass of the ice
cream to drain (half-life) [12, 13]. Overrun was determined in duplicate comparing the weight of a fixed
volume of ice cream mix and ice cream. The result was expressed in %, defined as
M −I
Overrun = × 100 , where M = weight of mix and I = weight of ice cream
I

3. Results & Discussion

The pulp proximate composition is show in Table 1. The main component of dry matter pulp is
carbohydrate. The composition varies broadly according to degree of maturation [14]. The low fat
content is expected for green dwarf coconut, the most common variety sold for consume of water. It is in
accordance with the studies of Aragão et al. [15] for coconut in the early maturing stage. They reported
that the dwarf coconut has lower fat content than tall coconut, for all cultivars studied. Fat content is one
of components that varies the most during maturation stages, even in the same nut which can explain why
in fresh pulp it is higher than protein’s and in freeze-dried it is the other way around.

Table 1. Proximate composition of green coconut pulps

Carbohydrate by
Pulp Moisture (%) Fat (%) Protein (%) Ash (%)
difference (%)
In Natura (fresh) 92.70 0.39 0.97 0.75 5.19
Freeze-dried 8.01 27.95 19.90 10.72 33.42

Table 2 gives the fatty acid composition. The results show typical composition for coconut oil, with
predominance of medium chain fatty acids. The fatty acid composition changes during maturing, and in
most of studies, lauric acid (C12) is in major quantity in all maturing stages [15, 16, 17], although
Santoso et al. [17] found in young coconut a predominance of oleic, and linoleic acids. In the present
study lauric and myristic acids are predominant, and the fatty acid profile is similar to results of Aragão et
al. [15] for fruits with 6th to 8th month maturity. As the coconut fat is rich in medium chain fatty acids is
considered good for health [18].

Table 2. Fatty acid composition of coconut lipids

Fatty acid %
Caproic (C6) 0.97
Caprylic (C8) 5.10
Capric (C10) 3.58
Lauric (C12) 38.05
Myristic (C14) 20.10
Palmitic (C16) 15.20
Stearic (C18) 2.35
Oleic (C18:1) 12.52
Linoleic (C18:2) 2.13
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The foaming capacity it is a typical functional property of proteins. Foam expansion or overrun,
expressed as %, used for comparison of pulps, resulted in 120% for FP, 209% for egg white, 77.6% for
FD and 70.8% for DFD. The FD pulp showed less foaming capacity but with higher stability than FGP
and egg white. The collapse of foams produced by FP and egg white occurred in shorter time (figure 2),
probably because of greater concentration of protein in the FD, resulting in smaller bubbles and higher
viscosity [19]. It’s known that egg white has good foaming capacity. FP showed good capacity too, but
lower than egg white’s. The absence of lipids impaired this property, reducing overrun in 9.5%. Some
lipids in concentrations > 0.5% can reduce the foaming capacity of proteins [19], but the results indicate
that in coconut pulp, the lipid fraction contributes in foam formation.

Fig. 2. Foam formation and stability

For emulsifying capacity, the volumes of soybean oil required to cause inversion of the emulsion, 72.7
mL/g (dry basis), 19.17 mL/g, 28.9 mL/g and 28.3 mL/g, respectively for FP, egg yolk, FD and DFD. The
lipids showed no influence in this property, which indicates that the responsible for emulsifying capacity
in this system are the proteins, that can be influenced by many factors such as type of protein, pH, ionic
strength, temperature, protein concentration and solubility [9, 19]. Kwon & Rhee [9] studied emulsifying
capacity of mature coconut proteins and demonstrated more significant influence of salt presence and pH
than temperature.

Ice cream
FD and DFD were utilized for ice cream manufacture. The product made with FD showed 28.36% of
overrun, 28.29% total solids and pH 4.05. Addition of DFD resulted in 17.15% overrun, 25.90% total
solids and pH 4.29. Low values for overrun in both products resulted of lab scale ice cream maker used to
freezing process. The results showed that without the lipids a reduction of the overrun value (11%)
occurred, as observed for foaming capacity. When FD or DFD was replaced for FP in ice cream
formulation, the overrun was higher than both and similar to umbu ice cream milk-based (data no shown).
Addition of umbu resulted in lower pH values (pH 2.1), as expected. This fruit confers to ice cream a
refreshing and pleasant flavour. An acid fruit was chosen to verify if, at low pH values, the coconut pulp
could give the same good results as those obtained with chocolate.
The hardness of ice cream made with FD was 51% lower than that made with DFD. Some authors
have showed that there is a reverse relation between fat content and hardness [12, 20, 21], as observed in
this study.
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6 I. A. Santana/ Procedia – Food Science 00 (2011) 000–000

Meltdown results showed that the time required for the first drop drained from ice cream was 25.0 min
for FD formulation and 28.5 min for DFD. The half life time was 48.9 and 45.86 min for FD and DFD
respectively (fig.3). In ice cream systems meltdown can be influenced by many factors like total solids,
ice crystals size, fat globule size, low overrun [22, 23]. When the first drop and half life time were
compared for the two formulations, small differences were observed.

Fig. 3. Meltdown curves for ice cream formulated with FD and DFD.

4. Conclusion

The results indicate that green coconut pulp has foaming and emulsifying capacities that can be used
for production of ice cream, even at low pH values. The fruit-based ice cream that does not contain milk
solids is defined as Sorbet. However, the composition of coconut pulp, with proteins, lipids and
carbohydrates, made it possible to manufacture a product with similar properties of a true ice cream. The
freeze-dried pulp permitted compare formulations with and without lipids, but the fresh pulp is more
suitable for ice cream manufacture, because it is almost tasteless and odorless, which makes this
ingredient appropriate to formulate ice cream-like products with different flavors.
Medium chain fatty acids predominate in coconut oil, mainly lauric acid. The pulp lipids had more
influence on foaming capacity, overrun and hardness than in emulsifying capacity and meltdown of ice
cream.
Proteins and carbohydrates are present in significant quantities and more studies are needed to
understand the influence of these compounds in functional properties of the pulp.
There are potential applications of green coconut pulp as milk, fat and emulsifier replacer in ice cream
and other products, e.g., bakery. It is a healthy, sustainable and economical alternative to countries that
are producers of this crop.

Acknowledgements

The authors are grateful to Maua Institute of Technology for the support and to Juliana K.
Kawano.

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Presented at ICEF11 (May 22-26, 2011 – Athens, Greece) as paper FPE897.