1. Introduction
The coconut palm is cultivated in more than 90 tropical countries and it represents an important income source. Indonesia, Philippines and India are the major producers and account for about 75% of world production [1]. The whole coconut tree may be utilized, but the main products are obtained from the fruit:copra and oil, lauric acid, coconut milk, fiber, flour, coconut water (from immature fruit), which are used in several application, e.g. food, animal feed, soaps, detergents and cosmetics. Brazil is the 4th largest producer and harvested around 2 billion fruits in 2010 [2]. The coconut cultivation in Brazil is not intended for oil production, but the pulp is mainly used as raw material for production of shredded coconut, coconut milk and other derivatives. The consumption of liquid albumen (or coconut water) of the immature coconut is so important to this country, that resulted in deployment of crops aimed mainly to
this application, which does not happen in other producing countries. The increasing demand for natural and healthy foods is one factor that has raised the consumption of this drink, that reaches around 350 million liters per year in fresh and industrialized form.