Question

Extraction of oil from fresh coconut includes: (A) Cooking, (B) Expelling, (C) Steaming, (D) Filtering. Choose the correct answer from the options given below:

• A. (B) and (D) only
• B. (A), (B) and (D) only
• C. (A), (B), (C) and (D)
• D. (A) and (D) only

Hint:

Fresh coconut oil extraction (wet process) does not use mechanical expellers because of the high moisture content of the meat.
Instead, the process relies on thermal separation (cooking) and subsequent filtration.

Answer 1

The Correct Option is D

Step 1: Understanding the Concept:
Oil extraction from fresh coconut can be performed using either wet processing (virgin coconut oil) or dry processing (copra processing).
For fresh, wet coconuts, the oil is extracted from the fresh meat without drying it first into copra, which bypasses the mechanical expelling step.

Step 2: Detailed Explanation:
Let us analyze the extraction steps for fresh coconut (wet process):
- The process begins by grating the fresh coconut meat and pressing it to extract coconut milk, which is an emulsion of oil and water stabilized by proteins.
- Cooking: The extracted coconut milk is heated or cooked under controlled temperatures.
This heat coagulates the proteins and breaks down the emulsion, allowing the water to evaporate and the clear oil to separate from the solid residue.
- Steaming and Expelling are primary steps in dry copra processing, where dried coconut halves are heated and pressed under high pressure in mechanical screw presses (expellers).
Since we are dealing with fresh coconut, mechanical expelling is not used because the high water content would produce a slurry rather than clear oil.
- Filtering: After cooking, the oil is filtered to remove any suspended protein solids and moisture, yielding clear virgin coconut oil.
Thus, the extraction of oil from fresh wet coconut consists primarily of cooking (A) and filtering (D).

Step 3: Final Answer:
The extraction of oil from fresh coconut includes (A) and (D) only.