Effect of extraction variables on the proximate composition of coconut milk

Article history: Received: November 30, 2018 Accepted: June 26, 2019 To our knowledge, there seem to be no report on the effect of extraction variables on the proximate composition of coconut milk. In this study, response surface methodology (RSM) with a central composite design (CCD), consisting three factors (extraction time, extraction temperature and coconut meat particle size) was used to study the effect of process conditions on the proximate compositions of coconut milk. Results revealed that process variables significantly (p<0.05) affected the proximate compositions of coconut milk. The R values of ash, fibre and carbohydrate were 0.9244, 0.8822 and 0.8876 respectively, while that of fat and protein where 0.6048 and 0.6866, respectively. Results also indicated that moisture, ash, fat, protein, fibre and carbohydrate contents of coconut milk ranged from 75.40 to 81.97%, 1.03 to 4.3 %, 62.70 to 78.39%, 6.33 to 32.16%, 0.05 to 0.15% and 2.25 to 60.0%, respectively. The optimum conditions obtained for extraction of coconut milk with a desirability index of 75.30% were 16.27 min extraction time, 40 °C extraction temperature and < 1617 μm particle size of coconut meat. The estimated amount of moisture, ash, fat, protein, fibre and carbohydrate were; 79.03, 3.48, 73.82, 25.45, 0.16 and 29.34% respectively.