2.1. Preparation of sample
The coconut endosperm, after removal of its shell and
paring, was passed through a Krauss-Maffei (rotary
wedge type) cutter having a sieve plate (3-mm hole)
through which shredded coconut meal was forced out
(Banzon, Gonzalez, Leon, & Sanchez, 1990). The resulting
coconut gratings were expressed in a screw press to
extract coconut milk. The residual coconut fiber, after
extraction of milk, was dried and then was subjected
to hexane treatment for 9 h for fat removal in a percolator
type solvent extractor using 1:5 solid to solvent ratio.
Finally, the sample was kept in a hot air oven at 55 C
for 3 h to remove hexane (Raghavendra et al., 2004).