Coconut water is the water from inside a young, green coconut. The water eventually forms the white part of the coconut we eat. Coconut milk is what’s left in a mature coconut. Coconut oil is pressed from the white part to extract the oil. MCT oil is processed to leave only the MCT (medium chain triglycerides).
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I’m gonna try germing with some and see if there is any perceived difference. Peace…
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It’s a shame the yellow sweeter varieties of coconut aren’t more popular. They’re smaller in size I guess. From my region anyway. I love them all anyway.
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The only coconut water that is not pasteurized is the one inside a fresh one and it need not be because the inside has not been exposed to natural occuring contamination, molds, and bacteria being the most hazardous ( if it’s for human use) once they have been cracked open they become contaminated hence the need to be pasteurized and loosing some of the desired properties
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That’s good to know.
If you can only get pasturized, then everyone is in the same boat unless you have access to fresh coconuts. So if everyone who has been using it a while and still say it’s good, it doesn’t matter that it’s pasturized. So I am not bothering to look for something better 
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My calculations say it wouldn’t be practical to use coconuts. I’m curious what beneficial properties pasteurization would destroy.
$1.83 ea. at my local HEB Grocery Store. 
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Yeah, it goes bad in the blink of an eye so I would guess it’s all pasteurized. Freeze dried is another good option
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Maybe I will be looking for better as there are options here. Cheers guys, might work out cheaper as well.
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If people have used it and have seen good results, that’s one thing. Pasteurization is normally implemented to stop spoilage and reduce harmful bacteria but also reduces nutrition. That’s definitive science. I guess what people can check out on the particular brand they’re buying is what temperature it’s pasteurized at. There are different standards like ultra high pasteurization. I think long life milk is UHT. The thinking there being the higher the temperature, the less nutrition available.
Then there is also how organic, where the coconuts are sourced from in terms of how far they’ve travelled, if they’re grown using fertilizers from other nearby crops.
The reason I say all this is because I know of someone who works on a coconut plantation, fertilizes the trees with agri-chem ferts and the region that this is in has a really high level of ground water contamination from other agriculture and industries. Coconuts like most other tropical fruit is largely grown in regions of the world with the poorest and worst kept records - I hope I’ll be forgiven for positing this. It’s just the more I think about it, the more I think this applies. But also for lots of products that we use these days to eat or use for feed for our plants or whatever. I totally get people want to implement as organic as possible regimens and coconuts don’t have a bad rep as yet in that department to the best of my knowledge but that could be because they’ve flown under the radar.
I think if I were going to use it, I’d use it to help crack seeds or as part of teas for plants but with infrequent application to minimize any potential bad stuff that the plant might take up.
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Excellent post @Mestizo and I appreciate the thoughtful presentation of this important information. Very valid concerns and I’m gonna ponder that shit!
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Yeah I have been digging into the organic side more as well, I found a blog post from someone in Thailand, complaining that her regular daily organic drink of coconut water, has now been made impossible, after all the coconut companies, had a massive infestation of some insect that was destroying all the palm trees, so every palm tree had to be sprayed down, they even did the baby trees as well which she said was not necessary. This was carried out by the government, so even the organic growers had to comply.
So no organic coconut products from Thailand for the next year or so.
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So what are we talking here for pasteurization temps ? 165-185 degrees Fahrenheit at most, not hardly high enough imo to reduce nutritional value of any product otherwise we would all be drinking inert ingredients right? Coconut water is one of the best things to drink for athletes after strenuous workouts to help replenish vital nutrients and electrolytes that are lost in the body slight heating of these pasteurized products reducing the benefits of said product I just don’t buy it.
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I’m with you @Tinytuttle. I checked on the dehydrated powder. Not sure if it’s any different. I’m gonna give it to select plants and see.
Peace
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I hear you. And again I’m positing. Research may have been done for depletion of taste, i.e., how much they can get away with before a product becomes undesirable to consumers. But in terms of nutrition, fruit juice, milk, to name a few are subject to heat treatment for prolongation of storage - there is no way concentrated, dehyrdrated, rehydrated, heated, then cooled or just stored product retains it’s nutritional value. I don’t think the average of 82 degrees Celsius is “slight heating” considering boiling point is 100 degrees C and I can kill weeds that don’t respond to marketed weed killers at that temperature. I don’t believe industrial production of coconut water has been big on retention of nutrition over taste and longevity and easy to market, saleable consumer products and I question the practice and addition to feeding of our plants that we are also going to consume.
Heating to kill bacteria unhealthy to humans may be killing bacteria healthy to plants. That doesn’t come on the product description on your average carton of pasteurized coconut water. Nutrients, beneficial microorganisms are incredibly sensitive to heat and environment.
If a company says they’re doing everything to a standard, it’s important to know what that standard is and whether it complies with your own personal standards.
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I’m not disagreeing with ya by any means I agree things in nature as soon they are picked such as garden veggies or anything for that matter, yes things start to degrade immediately the main culprits being time and temperature along with storage conditions. Food is much more beneficial when eaten raw as opposed to its cooked form ,much more is retained I think we can all agree with that . The way I read your post earlier is that there significant amounts lost during the pasteurization process unless I’m missing something with coconut water pasteurization techniques I just don’t believe there’s much effect on mineral content loss
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From Tetrapak website -
Processing long life coconut liquid products
Long life coconut liquid products are coconut liquid products like coconut milk based or coconut water based beverages, coconut milk or cream sterilized by undergoing strong heat treatment to inactivate microorganisms and heat resistant enzymes. As such, they can be stored for long periods of time at ambient temperatures without bacterial growth.
Properly processed coconut products are safe and hygienic. Consumers benefit from a product that can be stored for long periods of time without refrigeration. It can also be distributed over long distances and supplied to new markets.
Essentially, there are three heating processes for extending the shelf life of coconut liquid products – pasteurization, sterilization and ultra-high temperature processing. Each process requires specific types of packaging in order to maximize its effect (Table 11.1). The exact shelf life of coconut liquid products depends on the raw materials, processing conditions and type of packaging used.
Microbial load of raw material
Coconuts have a high microbial load, especially those left on the ground after harvesting and transported over long distances. In particular, dehusked mature coconuts contain higher microbial load as the fibres tend to trap soil and dirt. To reduce microbial load, it is recommended that coconut processing includes a cleaning stage during production.
Cleaning efforts vary for young and mature coconuts. For young coconuts, the whole fruit is brushed and washed in potable water to remove soil and dirt. Sanitizing the fruit in a dilute bleach solution further reduces the number of microorganisms on the surface of the young coconut. (FAO,2007)
To reduce microbial load for mature coconuts, they are deshelled and pared down before the white or brown skin kernels are washed. The pieces of coconut kernels are washed with diluted anti-microbial solutions, followed by rinsing with potable water before going into the grinders for coconut milk extraction.
Sterilizing effect on coconut liquid products
When microorganisms and bacterial spores are subjected to heat treatment or any other kind of sterilizing procedure, not all are killed at once. Instead, a certain proportion is destroyed in the given time period, while the remaining portion survives. If the surviving microorganisms are subjected to the same treatment again over the given time period, the same proportion will be destroyed and so on. In other words, a given exposure to sterilizing or disinfectant agents always kills the same proportion of microorganisms present.
Sterilizing effect achieved through UHT
In general, the sterilizing effect depends on the time and temperature combination, as well as the product’s bacteria content.
Bacteria content exists as easy to kill vegetative cells only, or as spore-forming bacteria in a vegetative state. While these bacteria are easily killed in the vegetative state, their spores are difficult to eliminate.
In turn, the heat resistance of the test spores are influenced by the Bacillus strain used, which affects the way spores are produced. Spores of Bacillus subtilis or Bacillus stearothermophilus are generally used as test organisms to determine the sterilizing effect of UHT equipment, especially when strains like B.stearothermophilus form fairly heat-resistant spores. Clostridium botulinum is used to determine the effect of in-container sterilization.
Products to be sterilized usually contain a mixed flora of both vegetative cells and bacterial spores. Unfortunately, high spore counts can be found in products with low total counts, and vice versa. Therefore, the total count determination cannot serve as a reliable base for enumeration of spores in food products. To determine this, Q10 and F0 values serve as a base for the killing of microorganisms. (I didn’t include these charts)
Note ***
You can draw your own conclusions.
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Well…There you go.
Great information @Schmokey! Hope you don’t mind too much if I put that pearl of Knowledge in this do you?
oleskool’s Big Red Book of Aquired Knowledge.
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Do what you wish with it my friend. Just doing my bit for all the brothers and sisters, ya know?
My take on it, unless you live somewhere that you can get fresh coconuts to extract from you’re money is probably better spent.
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Thanx @Schmokey for taking the time. I feel edified.
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