About This Project
There is no question that fresh water straight out of a coconut can be matched by any packaged coconut water in terms of quality and benefit. It is widely known that the packaged coconut water lacks the taste, the fresh coconut water has. What is missing or what is in excess in the packaged drinks? When someone gulps a packaged coconut water, they should know how it differs from a fresh coconut water in terms of its ingredient composition.Ask the Scientists
Join The DiscussionWhat is the context of this research?
The benefits of coconut water has been known for hundreds of years in many parts of this world, but coconut water has gained this much of a limelight only in the last decade and has grown into a billion dollar industry.
It is known to many that " coconut water taken from fresh coconut and stored in fridge loses its taste and discoloration happens in a matter of few hours.
It is also known that many brands of packaged coconut water lacks the taste of fresh coconut water.
How is it possible to prevent the discoloration and degradation of coconut water by packaging it? i.e Are any chemicals being added in the name of "natural flavors" to prevent the discoloration?
Are there any tests being done to ensure that the ingredients present in fresh coconut water are retained in the packaged drink?
What is the significance of this project?
Coconut water once taken out of the coconut has very less shelf life i.e it stays good only for few hours even under cold storage conditions.
It is important to know " How something that goes bad in few hours can be kept good for months". The nutritional benefits of coconut water are projected and marketed so well that the consumers fail to even ask what is being added or removed as ingredients to make it edible for months?
"100% Coconut Water", "Filtered Water" and "Natural Flavors" are the common items in the ingredients list of most brands of coconut water. It is imperative to know "WHAT" is being added in the name of natural flavors.
This project will focus on utilizing scientific tools to identify the difference in the ingredient composition of "fresh" and "packaged" coconut water.
What are the goals of the project?
Plan of experiments:
1. Fresh coconut water will be tested for its shelf life under room temperature and cold storage conditions.
2. Fresh tender coconut will be procured from various places and its composition will be analyzed.
3. Packaged coconut water from various manufacturers will be purchased and its composition will be analyzed.
4. The effect of packaging material on the composition of the coconut water will be analyzed.
5. The effect of storage conditions on the packaged coconut water will be studied.
6. The nutritional values of packaged and fresh coconut water will be compared.
High Performance Liquid Chromatography coupled with Mass Spectrometry (HPLC-MS) and other wet chemistry techniques will be used.
Packaged coconut water from at least 6 different manufactures will be studied.
Budget
While trying to find the best possible coconut water source to derive the nutritional benefits, I was faced with several challenges. It was very difficult to obtain fresh coconut water on a daily basis. That led me to purchase various brands of packaged coconut water .
However, having been used to abundant fresh coconut water in my childhood days, I was able to identify that the packaged drink lacks taste and has something that is not present in fresh coconut water.
I wanted to pursue a basic research to identify how coconut water could be packaged and what are the compromises made?
Since this is my pet project, I will need support from people who have interest in deriving nutritional benefits from coconut water and are facing the same questions that I have about the quality of packaged coconut water.
As soon as the project is over, the results will be open to public through multiple sources.
Meet the Team
Team Bio
I am a chemical engineer and a chemist working towards a doctoral degree in chemistry.I have a lot of interest in coconut water and the the nutritional benefits one can derive from it. However I am not convinced that the packaged coconut water in the market are of any nutritional value to its consumers. I even believe that the packaged coconut water can be detrimental to health due to the processes that are involved in making it edible for months.
I want to test my beliefs scientifically and hence this project. I hope my findings will be of beneficial to others also.
Outside chemistry, I enjoy reading about philosophy, general health science topics and traditional medicinal science.
Lab Notes
Nothing posted yet.
Additional Information
Project Backers
- 2Backers
- 2%Funded
- $18Total Donations
- $6.00Average Donation