Abstract

PRODUCTION AND CHARACTERIZATION OF VIRGIN COCONUT OIL

G. Vaishali*, Dr. A. Pavani and Dr. M. Bhagavan Raju

ABSTRACT

The study on virgin coconut oil brought lot of interest in recent trends due to its major health benefits. Coconut oil is abundantly used in manufacture of soaps, hair oil, cosmetics and industrial processes. Apart from this, VCO has many medicinal properties due to presence of antioxidants, vitamins etc. VCO differs from the normal coconut oil in the way of processing. It is extracted from fresh coconut kernel without any chemical processes. Many methods are reported for production of VCO. It has water like appearance, pleasant coconut aroma and has long shelf life. This study is aimed to introduce different methods for production of VCO, its applications and physic -chemical properties.

Keywords: Virgin Coconut Oil, Dry methods, Wet methods, Medicinal applications.