Abstract:
Coconut sugar is one of the most economically valued products and a
sweetener ingredient. Increasing threats of diabetes, obesity, hypertension, and heart
diseases have become real concerns for many people due to the high consumption of
sugar in food, beverage, and confectionery products. Due to an increased interest in
healthy diets, people try to replace conventionally refined sugar. Consequently, the
demand for alternative sweeteners is growing. Coconut inflorescence sugar benefits
from this trend and is conquering European grocery stores and kitchens. This study
was conducted as a development of a protocol for coconut sugar production using
tapping sap. Fresh good quality coconut tapping sap was used to develop coconut
sugar. Therefore, the freshness of the tapping sap was tested at 6-hour intervals. The
temperature was tested for the production of coconut sugar. There was one treatment
and two control samples. Newly produced coconut sugar was tested against brown
cane sugar and marketed coconut sugar. The physicochemical properties, sensory
properties and consumer acceptance were tested in all samples. Sensory evaluation
was done using a five-point hedonic scale using 30 untrained panellists. From the
sensory evaluation, novel product with 100% coconut tapping sap sugar was selected
as the best. The same was ranked as the best in taste compared to the marketed coconut
sugar and brown cane sugar. The finding demonstrated that there is a high possibility
and potential of producing coconut sugar using coconut tapping sap.
