Organic coconut sugar is one of the many varieties of sweeteners available on the market. Often confused with brown sugar, this natural sweetener has a rich, sweet taste and a thick texture, with its distinguishing feature being its uneven color and appearance different from the smoother look of brown sugar.
Nonetheless, recently coconut sugar has become a popular alternative to white sugar. This is because coconut sugar is known to have a low glyemic index, making it a safer option for people with diabetes. Furthermore, this sweetener is not ordinary; organic coconut sugar is rich in zinc, iron, vitamin C, and other nutrients.
Of course, these health benefits can be maximized if producers follow proper production methods to maintain its freshness and nutrients. Want to know more? Let’s go over the organic coconut sugar production process that you should be aware of.
- Coconut Sap Collection
The first step in making coconut sugar is collecting sap. The sap is tapped from flower clusters of the coconut tree once they are sufficiently mature. The sap used should have a pH of 5.5–7.0 and a relatively low reducing sugar (glucose and fructose) content.
Once sap of the right quality is collected, it is immediately put into large buckets or basins and promptly processed by cooking it to avoid acid formation.
- Filtration
Before cooking, the sap is first filtered to remove impurities such as coconut flowers and small insects like bees and ants. The sap is typically strained through a clean filter cloth directly into the cooking pan.
- Cooking Process
The pan filled with clean sap is placed over a stove. At the outset of cooking, a large flame is used to accelerate the evaporation process. The sap should boil at about 110°C. As it starts boiling, small impurities will rise to the surface alongside the sap’s foam. These are removed with a skimmer.
As boiling continues, a yellowish-brown foam develops and may overflow. To control this, the sap must be stirred gently from time to time. To reduce the foaming, producers sometimes add a small amount of grated coconut, candlenuts, or cooking oil.
Once the sap thickens, the flame is lowered and stirring is maintained until the proper consistency is achieved. To test this, a drop of thick sap is put into cold water; if it hardens, the cooking is finished and the pan can be removed from the stove. Before proceeding to molding, the sap must be cooled to about 70°C.
- Molding
Once cooled to 70°C, the thick sap is poured into bamboo molds previously soaked in water. Soaking prevents the cooled sugar from sticking and makes it easy to release once it hardens. After the sugar drops to room temperature, it is removed from the molds.
- Packaging
The final and most important step is packaging. The molded organic coconut sugar is then packed in pouches or similar packaging to help maintain its quality.
