Coconut Inflorescence Sap and its Value Addition as Sugar - Collection Techniques, Yield, Properties and Market Perspective

Abstract

Fresh coconut sap (neera), if kept at room temperature for a couple of hours, undergoes fermentation. Fresh sap is golden in colour, with pH > 7 and has no foul odour. The traditional way of tapping, i.e. collecting the sap in a mud pot kept at the top of the palm under atmospheric temperature for 8-12 h, ferments the sap before collection itself. The colour turns whitish, pH drops to below 6 and odour of toddy (fermented smell) slowly develops. Hence the only way to avoid fermentation of sap is either keeping collection boxes at low temperature or to collect the sap every hour and store chilled. Central Plantation Crops Research Institute has developed 'coco-sap chiller' with ice cubes inside, which maintains the temperature at 2-3C for 10-12 h, and also keeps the sap fresh and unfermented. The sap collected is sweet, non-alcoholic and also free from contaminants like ants, insects, pollen, dust, etc. The fresh, hygienic and unfermented sap is called Kalparasa. It can be sold as a ready-to-serve health drink under refrigerated condition or can be processed into value-added natural products like sugar, jaggery, honey, syrup, etc. without the addition of chemicals.

Indigenous technology of tapping, collecting and processing of coconut (Cocos Nucifera) sap and its quality in Blitar Regency, East Java, Indonesia

“…While its glucose and fructose contents were 2.14 g/ml to 3.73 g/100 ml, 1.63 g/100 ml to 1.84 g/100 ml and 1.24 g/100 ml to 1.52 g/100 ml, respectively. Hebbar et al (2015) observed that fresh coconut sap after harvesting (8-12 hours from tapping to collecting) contained 15% sugar and decreased to about 6% while at the same time the reducing sugar level increased up to 5%. While Misra (2016) reported that fresh coconut sap (neera) contained total sugars 14.4 g/ml and total reducing sugars 9.85 g/100 ml.…”

“…In Indonesia, this sap is known as nira and in other countries coconut fresh sap has its own name such as toddy (Sri Lanka), maprau (Thailand), tori (India), lagbi (North Africa) and lubki (Egypt). This fresh sap is collected from cutting the inflorescence of palm trees and contained sucrose, glucose and fructose as well as other nutrients such as minerals, vitamins, antioxidants and phytochemicals (Nathanael, 1970;Purnomo, 1992;Purnomo and Mufida, 2004;Purnomo, 2007;Hebbar et al, 2015).…”

“…If preservative is not added to the collecting container, the collected fresh sap could easily have fermented after 15 hours. While Purnomo and Surjoseputro (2001) and Hebbar et al (2015) noted that the most common natural preservative used are limestone powder or solution, jack fruit (Artocarpus heterophylus) wood chip, mangosteen (Garciana mangosteen) exocarp fruit skin, and finely cut Hall bark (Artha acuminata) chips or combination of these preservatives and sodium metabisulphite is also quite popular as chemical preservative in preventing the fermentation process of fresh sap.…”

Coconut inflorescence sap mediated synthesis of silver nanoparticles and its diverse antimicrobial properties

“…The inflorescence sap , which was collected in a coco-sap chiller under cool temperature as described by Hebbar et al (2015), was brought to the laboratory in autoclaved glass bottles in an icebox. The sap was filtered using Whatmann No.1 filter paper inside a refrigerator (4ºC).…”

“…Inflorescence sap or neera, a healthy drink consumed largely by the rural village folk, is tapped from coconut inflorescence ("spadix"). A technique has been developed to collect inflorescence sap in its pure, hygienic and natural form using "coco sap chillers" (Hebbar et al, 2015). Briefly, a "coco sap chiller" makes use of ice cubes inside a specialized box which maintains the temperature (4 to 6ºC) for 10-12 hrs to protect the collected inflorescence sap from getting fermented and also to maintain the sap free of foreign materials.…”