How To Make Organic Crystal sugar From Coconut Sap (Nira)

26 Jul 2021 • 08:19:39

Organic cristal sugar from coconut sap is increasingly in demand, especially for the upper middle class economy or people who are on a diet and are aware of the importance of maintaining health. With such conditions, the demand for organic palm sugar continues to increase

The following are the complete steps on how to make export organic coconut sugar from coconut sap using traditional and traditional machines :

Coconut Nira Tapping Process

In the manufacture of crystal sugar, it is better to use coconut sap from plants that have been certified by the relevant agencies and the certification testing team from abroad. The criteria for coconut plants that will be taken sap is that you should choose a coconut plant that has 3 newly opened flower bunches and the length of the youngest mark is 20 cm. In general, the age of the coconut plant is only 8 years, or the age of about 4 years in hybrid coconuts. Ant sugar must be completely organic (natural) and not mixed with other additives. The raw material for coconut sap must be free from contamination with pesticides and other chemical substances which can damage the naturalness of ant sugar. Coconut plants that are tapped for sap must not come from coconut plants located near polluted rice fields or rivers, in other words, fields contaminated with pesticides or rivers containing dirt are at least 200 meters away from the location of coconut plants.

The thing that needs to be considered in order to maintain the quality of the tapped coconut sap is the cleanliness, including the crown of the coconut tree, it must be clean, free from all dirt and tools used in the process of tapping coconut sap. The way to get Nira comes from bunches of prospective coconuts whose sheath has not yet bloomed, then on the flower stalks it is slowly beaten repeatedly and after 3-5 days can only be done tapping, the purpose of this is to facilitate the release of coconut sap. Furthermore, the end of the mayang is cut about 10 cm using a sharp tool (knife or machete), and after the next week the long-awaited coconut sap will come out.

How to check the bunches that have or have not produced sap is to injure or cut the bunches and if the results of the cuts on the bunches of liquid have not come out, then the process of beating flower stalks is repeated. On the other hand, if the bunches that we cut, the liquid has come out, indicating that the bunches can be tapped and then the bunches that we cut are cut using a sharp tool. The thing to do before tapping the coconut sap is to install a clean container (bamboo ridge), then the ends of the mayang are thinly sliced ??with the aim that the capillary vessels or channels contained in the bunch will open so that the sap will flow freely and come out smoothly. The bamboo roof container should be tied to the base of the bunch with the aim that the position does not shift and is firmly in place. The process of tapping coconut sap should be done 2 times a day, namely in the morning before or a maximum of 08.00 while the afternoon tapping is done after 16.00. The production capacity of each mayang to be tapped for sap is for about 40 days for 2 times a day, ie every morning and evening. The bunches that do not come out of sap are bunches that have dried up indicating the sap has run out.

The characteristics of good quality coconut sap are fresh, have a sweet taste, sugar content of 12%, fragrant smell, colorless coconut sap water and pH (acidity) ranging from 6.0 to 7.0. While the characteristic of poor quality sap is marked with pH > 6.0 and if the sap is still used in the manufacture of ant sugar, it will produce low quality and unsatisfactory products. The process of handling the sap so that the taste is not sour and the dirt settles so that it can affect the color of light yellow sugar (the color is less attractive for ant sugar), then it is better to add 1 tablespoon of whiting.

Coconut sap (Nira) cooking

The raw material for cooking coconut sap is sap that is still fresh from the tap or in other words, a maximum of 2 hours after removing it from the sap container or bamboo roof. Why does the sap need to be cooked immediately or processed into sugar? Because to maintain the quality of the ant sugar and coconut sap water is easily fermented. In essence, cooking coconut sap aims to produce brown sugar and this process is almost the same as the process of making brown sugar in general.

The crystal sugar that will be produced is classified as organic sugar because the manufacturing process is only heated or cooked and is free from the use of chemical additives. The material used is coconut sap, while the tools used are a large pot or pan for cooking sap, a stove or stove for cooking, a wooden stirrer to stir the juice when it is cooked, a crystallizing machine to automatically stir and form crystals, a grinding machine to grind and sift the sugar into a smooth size, a baking sheet to dry at room temperature, an oven to dry crystal sugar, plastic packaging as a packaging for ant sugar when marketed.

Using Manual Stirrer (Traditional Method)

The first step is before cooking the sap, filtering the sap should be done first so that the sap can be separated from the dirt as well as a step in maintaining the quality of the ant sugar produced. After the sap is filtered, put it in a large skillet to be immediately boiled or heated to a temperature of 110-120 degrees Celsius.

Cooking sap by boiling takes 1-3 hours depending on the volume of sap to be processed into sugar. In boiling coconut sap while stirring until it boils and if foam begins to appear during the boiling process, then the foam that appears on the surface must be removed so that the sugar produced is of maintained quality including visually not too dark in color, slightly water content and drier so that the period of keep durable.

This process continues until the juice becomes thick and thick at the same time. Next, turn off the heat so it doesn't burn, 10 minutes later the pan containing the boiled sap is removed from the stove and the thick juice continues to be stirred slowly until the juice crystallizes.

The sap that has become thick and crystallized is then stirred faster until it becomes a coarse powder. The coarse powder form is called ant sugar which is just semi-finished on the grounds that it usually has a moisture content of above 5%.

Using the Crystallizing Machine

If using a crystallizing machine, the function is to stir the coconut sap from the beginning it is heated until it becomes semi-finished ant sugar so that workers only take the foam that appears on the surface until the coconut sap becomes crystalline. When the heated coconut sap has become thick and thick, the crystal machine is still running while the stove flame should be turned off and the stirrer is running. At that time, crystals began to form with the formation of ant sugar like hair. After that remove the sugar and dry in the room or preferably by using an oven that is set not too high temperature.

Milling and Sifting

Furthermore, the crystallized (semi-finished) ant sugar is ground using a grinding machine with the aim of reducing the size of the powder at the same time so that the sugar lumps disappear. Then the ant sugar is sifted with the sizes that the craftsmen usually do are 10, 15, 20 mesh with a moisture content of less than 3%. A good way of sifting is that it can be done sequentially based on the largest size, which is 10 mesh, if it passes the sieve it is continued to 15 mesh and if it passes the sieve continues to 20 mesh with the aim of getting the smoothest size. Meanwhile, ant rejek sugar or sugar that does not pass through a 10 mesh sieve can then be re-cooked by heating until melted and used to make brown sugar.

Below is a short video of the process of taking coconut sap to cooking it :