• What is a coconut oil production manual?
  • In essence, this manual is an expanded and more focused version of the Virgin coconut oil production manual for micro and village scale processing by Bawalan and Chapman published by FAORAP in 2006.
  • What is the MC of dried coconut kernel for extraction?
  • MC of dried kernel for extraction should be within the range of 10¨C12%. Uses manually operated equipment to produce the oil. Produces a semi-dry coconut residue that has to be further dried or processed to have market value. Shelf-life of oil can be very short if milled or grated coconut kernel is not properly prepared prior to oil extraction.
  • Why is the yield of coconut oil important in centrifugation?
  • Yield of the coconut oil is used to optimize the parameters. For centrifugation speed, results showed that when increasing the speed, the coconut oil yield increases as well, reaching 9.27% when centrifuged for 15 min at 12,000 rpm. As for the centrifugation time, the longer the sample is centrifuged, the higher the yield of coconut oil is.
  • How are coconuts selected for VCO processing?
  • Since coconuts do not fall naturally from the tree unless they are mature or over-mature, on-farm selection of coconuts for VCO processing consists of segregating the good mature nuts (Figure 46) from the over-mature nuts with signs of germination or growth (Figure 47).
  • Is the coconut oil supply chain sustainable?
  • While coconut growers are predominantly smallholder farmers, this does not mean the coconut oil supply chain is without sustainability challenges. One challenge is the complexity of the supply chain with a large number of growers, intermediary collectors and traders.
  • Why is virgin coconut oil important?
  • Lower quality VCO can still be used for processing other downstream products such as bath soaps and massage oils, thereby preventing any waste. It is one of the highest valued coconut products in the world market. Virgin coconut oil is considered a nutraceutical, i.e. a substance that nourishes and also protects and heals.