Ready-to-drink upcycled coconut skim milk-pineapple blend: influence of formulation on physico-chemical properties and consumer acceptability

Virgin coconut oil processing through centrifugation generates wastes such as coconut skim milk (CSM). This by-product, despite its nutritional and health functional properties, remains underutilized and is often discarded. This study determined the influence of varying pineapple juice (%) and sugar (%) levels on the physicochemical properties (i.e., color, pH, total soluble solids or TSS and viscosity) and consumer acceptability of bottled ready-to- drink (RTD) upcycled coconut skim milk-pineapple (uCSMP) blend using a two-factor mixture design. Consumer acceptability tests (i.e., 9-pt hedonic scale) involved followed a balanced incomplete block design (i.e. Plan 11.15 of Cochran and Cox) involving a total of 60 consumers aged 18-59 years old. Predictive models were generated to establish the effects of the formulation parameters on the quality of the RTD uCSMP blends. Verification experiments were conducted to validate the accuracy of the predictive models. Formulation parameters exerted a linear effect (p < 0.05) on viscosity and total soluble solids, and a marginally significant interactive (p = 0.06) effect on the pH of the samples. In addition, the combination of pineapple juice and sugar exerted a significant (p < 0.05) interactive effect on the flavor and aroma acceptability of the RTD blends. Verification experiments confirmed that the generated statistical models had adequate predictive accuracy for the responses. The findings of this research demonstrate the potential of utilizing CSM in developing plant-based milk alternatives such as flavored uCSM blends to minimize the industrial waste generated from virgin coconut oil processing.