To our knowledge, there seem to be no report on the effect of extraction variables on the proximate composition of coconut milk. In this study, response
surface methodology (RSM) with a central composite design (CCD),
consisting three factors (extraction time, extraction temperature and coconut
meat particle size) was used to study the effect of process conditions on the
proximate compositions of coconut milk. Results revealed that process
variables significantly (p<0.05) affected the proximate compositions of
coconut milk. The R2 values of ash, fibre and carbohydrate were 0.9244,
0.8822 and 0.8876 respectively, while that of fat and protein where 0.6048 and
0.6866, respectively. Results also indicated that moisture, ash, fat, protein, fibre
and carbohydrate contents of coconut milk ranged from 75.40 to 81.97%, 1.03
to 4.3 %, 62.70 to 78.39%, 6.33 to 32.16%, 0.05 to 0.15% and 2.25 to 60.0%,
respectively. The optimum conditions obtained for extraction of coconut milk
with a desirability index of 75.30% were 16.27 min extraction time, 40 °C
extraction temperature and < 1617 μm particle size of coconut meat. The
estimated amount of moisture, ash, fat, protein, fibre and carbohydrate were;
79.03, 3.48, 73.82, 25.45, 0.16 and 29.34% respectively
