Coconut trees can thrive in Indonesia because it has a tropical climate. So that coconut becomes one of the leading commodities. The processed products are m oil from grated coconut, so what is grated copra?
Copra and other parts of the coconut have been marketed worldwide. Starting from coconut meat, shell, coconut powder, to grated copra. Grated copra is coconut meat that has been dried, then crushed by coarsely chopped.
Copra Grater Process
Dry coconut meat with one of the drying techniques, for 3-5 days. The dried copra is then crushed to form coarse pieces. Furthermore, coarsely chopped can be squeezed to take the oil.
Copra with good quality and suitable for sale is the one that has a moisture content of about 6-7%. Because it will affect the grated copra. What is grated copra? Does it affect the quality of the oil?
Grated copra which has a moisture content exceeding 7%, will affect the results. The resulting oil will be of low quality. In addition, copra with a high moisture content will be more susceptible to decay.
Produce Grated Coconut with Modern Technology.
The times have created a variety of new technologies. One of them is a package of coconut oil-making machines. Which consists of a drying machine, a chopper, to a squeeze machine.
The above equipment is usually used in large-scale production, such as factories. But not only in factories, but farmers have also applied this technology in the manufacturing process.
Manufacturers will use the oven as a means of drying coconut meat. The advantage of using an oven to dry copra is that it is faster and more consistent.
The copra meat to be dried is heated to a temperature of up to 80°C. So that later it will leave the water content in the copra only 6-7%. The dried copra was then chopped using a chopping machine.
Coconut Oil from Grated Copra
Coconut oil comes from grated copra. What is grated copra? That is copra that has been destroyed by chopping, as explained above. From grated copra, coconut oil is produced by squeezing.
The oil collections are then combined and allowed to stand so that the precipitate can be separated from the oil. After the sediment is formed, the oil is filtered, and try not to get the sediment into the oil filter.
The oil that has been filtered still has to go through the process stage again. Namely the addition of alkaline compounds (KOH or NaOH). The goal is to neutralize and eliminate free fatty acids that depend on Crude Coconut Oil (CCO).
If the acid content in the oil has disappeared, then the results from the grated copra are given activated charcoal or color absorbent material. The goal is to produce clean and clear oil.
The oil from the grated copra will then be steamed using hot water steam. The goal is to remove compounds that can cause rancid or unpleasant odors.
After going through all the processes, the oil from the grated copra is ready to be packaged. It can even be labeled and marketed.
