Dear Hugh, I have attached a few photos of the store house. deepak chandra
--- On Sat, 2/11/12, Shree Padre <yes...@gmail.com> wrote:
From: Shree Padre <yes...@gmail.com> Subject: Re: [Coconut:4853] Re: Edible copra To: coc...@googlegroups.com Date: Saturday, February 11, 2012, 5:24 PM
Dear Hugh,
These two pix of Ball copra making I shot in Tiptur area year ago, I hope are answering your questions.
I don't think this process is mechanized.
Regards
Shree Padre Water Journalist
Post Vaninagar Via: Perla - Kerala, 671 552 Phone : 04998 - 266148 E-mail : shree...@gmail.com
On Sat, Feb 11, 2012 at 2:01 PM, Hugh Harries <hugh.h...@gmail.com> wrote:
Deepak
Thanks for the information about your ball copra store houses. We look forward to your pictures.
The low rainfall is important because it means humidity will be low and you probably do not need to heat the air even when it does rain?
So what do you do with the husk and shell? How easy or difficult it is it, to separate out the ball copra? Is the work done manually with an axe or on a spike? Could it be automated with a guillotine?
Do you beat out the husk for coir fibres and use the cocopeat in horticultural compost mixes?
Best wishes
Hugh
On 30 January 2012 15:24, deepak chandra <amdch...@yahoo.com> wrote:
Dear Hugh, As mentioned by you once the cycle begins there would be waiting period.My store house dimensions is 10ftX20ftX10ft each. I have 9 such stores houses for 7-9 harvests in a calender year.Each store house can hold about 25 thousand nuts when completely filled to the brim.The Max temperature in our are is about 36*C during summer months and the min being around 12* C, and the avg rainfall being 25 inches starting from the months of March/April till mid Nov,the max being in the month of Oct.
I have a few Chowghat orange dwarf and DXT trees and I have converted those nuts to ball copra.All you need is very well ventilated store house.I'll upload the photo of the store house in due course. regards deepak chandra
--- On Tue, 1/24/12, SREEKUMAR NAIR <petku...@gmail.com> wrote:
From: SREEKUMAR NAIR <petku...@gmail.com> Subject: Re: [Coconut:4832] Re: Edible copra To: coc...@googlegroups.com
Date: Tuesday, January 24, 2012, 5:31 PM
Dear Hugh, I speak with some experience from the coffee industry where dry beans are kept in natural humid conditions so as to produce a mellow flavored bean called Monsooned Malabar Coffee.Attempts have been made to replicate this process artificially due to the high premium that this coffee commands, but the eventual result was not a success. The process that is followed in Tiptur takes advantage of the natural climatic conditions prevalent in that area as well as the locally available varieties.
This cannot be replicated by artificial drying in any form. Artificial drying would hasten the natural process and the end result would be a product that lacks the characteristics of a naturally dried one. I am fairly certain that there would be a loss of color however well one tries to control the temperature ( to dry the warm air has to come into contact with the product )
The method that comes to my mind where I also have some experience are the corn cob drying houses for seed corn where the drying temperature is fairly close to the ambient air so as to retain the germination properties as well as color. The flip side is that one would need a very large area for a single layer of coconut and to regulate the movement of air expensive circulation systems need to be devised.Energy costs would make such a venture economically unviable.
In conclusion I am of the opinion that niche products are best left to traditional methods. Regards Sreekumar Nair On 24 January 2012 15:49, Hugh Harries <hugh.h...@gmail.com> wrote:
Jerard
Thank you for confirming my thought that early germinating
varieties are not suitable for ball copra.
The dry weather conditions are important but perhaps in humid areas it might be possible to blow warm (not too hot) air between and around the drying nuts? For example, by burning the residual shell and husk (already thoroughly dried) or (better)
by converting the shell to charcoal ?
The warm air would not come in direct contact with the ball copra to discolor it and the low heat would not denature its constituents.
Would the market demand for ball copra in the north absorb additional supplies?
If not, perhaps new markets could be found if virgin oil could be extracted from ball copra?
Some advertising slogans spring to mind . . . !
Hugh ========================================
Dear Hugh,
Evaluation of different coconut varieties for ball copra production indicated that early germinating varieties are not suitable for this purpsoe owing to the spoilage under storage. The accession Tiptur Tall was found better for this purpose as the size of the ball copra is optimum for drying. The study showed that Laccadive Micro Tall is the best for this purpose however with small balls!!.
The weather conditions prevailing in the Maidan tract of Karnataka is suitable for ball copra production (Dry weather with Low
RH, Low Rainfall, high temperature etc). The germination inside the storage chambers are almost absent at these places whereas upto 60 % spoilage (due to germination and rotting) has been observed under coastal conditions at Kasaragod with other varieties.
The ball copra has good market mostly in northern India where making availability of fresh coconuts are difficult. Quality wise, ball copra is sweeter and has more shelf life. It is suitable for all coconut culinary purposes.
With regards, Jerard
Deepak
Thank you for your practical advice about making ball copra. Please allow me to
add some comments.
In the first place, some people may be unwilling to wait 8-11 months before
they can sell the product. But once the first waiting period is over production
will become continuous. And the labour costs for picking out the copra are
greatly reduced.
Other people may not have enough covered space for storage. Can you advise on
what space is needed to process the crop from a specified number of palms (say
100)? And. of course, the covered area will be much more comfortable for the
workers, sheltered from the sun and the rain and not close to a copra-drying
fire.
Do you only process the local Tiptur Tall and, if so, is it like the West Coast
Tall, taking 2-3 months from the time of harvesting before beginning to
germinate? What happens if you use an early germinating variety, like the San
Ramon or the Chowgat Dwarf or a DxT hybrid, which can begin to germinate on the
palm even before harvest?
A picture of your store house, as you suggest, would be very helpful. Could you
also show pictures of the recently harvested coconuts ("before and
after" drying) and the resulting the ball copra?
Many thanks
Hugh
Hi,
I presume, What Rajesh meant by white copra, it must be ball copra.Well
I am a coconut farmer from the Tiptur belt of Karnataka state in South of
India.We in this area never sell raw coconut, we convert them to ball copra
by harvesting only mature10- 12 months old coconuts, these coconuts are
stored in well ventilated store houses with cross ventilation and in a
raised platform (about 2-3 feet from the ground level) so that there is air
circulation all around the store house.These coconuts are stored for almost 9
to 11 months (depending on the time of harvest, monsoon months harvests take
11 months where as summer harvested nuts take 9 months to become copra)
from harvest without disturbing them.At the end of the stipulated time the
nuts are dehusked and the shell is broken into two halves to produce ball
copra(it is just like a ball) the inside of the copra when cut into two
halves is almost as white as a snow ,hence it is called white copra.This
copra fetches premium price since it would have lost almost all its moisture,
hence the shelf life of the copra is almost for a few months and the
copra is sweetish to taste
I can post pics of the store house if asked for
regards
deepak chandra
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