Are you allergic to milk and dairy products which prevents you from enjoying delicious ice cream on a sunny afternoon?
Do not worry, as you will soon be able to enjoy a scoop of coconut ice cream.
Exhibitors at the Nairobi International Trade Fair have been showcasing various agriculture and manufacturing technologies seeking to address food and nutrition security.
One of the new innovations being showcased by Jomo Kenyatta University of Agriculture and Technology is a product that coconut farmers can produce through value addition.
Gastin Adoyo, a researcher from JKUAT, said coconut ice cream is an ideal product for the coastal areas because of the high temperature.
Communities in the coastal areas also do not keep dairy animals for milk production, and this can be an alternative raw material for making ice cream.
“Coconut ice cream is ideal for people who are lactose intolerant. The cow’s milk contains lactose which many people are not able to digest. Coconut ice cream can be used to bridge that market gap,” he said.
According to health experts, lactose intolerance is when your body cannot break down or digest lactose, a sugar found in milk and milk products.
Adoyo added that the fatty acids in this product are high and this is important in giving energy boosters to people who may need the same.
The product is being developed under the Manufacturing Research Chair project on value addition and utilisation of coconut products at JKUAT.
Adoyo is working with Prof Daniel Sila under the Food and Beverage Research stream.
Prof Bernard Ikua is spearheading the five-year project that is supported by the International Development Research Centre of Canada, through the National Commission for Science, Technology and Innovation.
Adoyo said they did a market assessment in the coastal areas and found out that the value added products which were there were limited. He said one of the products which was missing was the coconut ice cream.
“It is a good product in the sense that it is best for areas with high temperatures like Coast. In addition to that, the lack of dairy production for milk in the coastal area makes it an alternative product that farmers can use for value addition to help them make an income,” he said.
“We also realised that most farmers are living in poverty and they contract their farms to Tanzanian traders.
"But with this product, they will be able to get their farms back because they can grow coconut, extract the milk and then make the product. You only need to have an ice cream making machine.”
He said the process is simple, all you need is to extract the milk from the coconut fruit and deshell it to get the coconut meat.
“You then grate the ‘coconut meat’ and mix with water to extract the coconut milk. After that, sieve it and subject it to treatment by adding sugar and then stabilising it. Freeze for some time and you have your ice cream product ready,” the researcher said.
The ice cream is packaged in 100 millilitres and 250 millilitres which cost Sh50 and Sh200 respectively.
The researcher said coconut fruit is abundant in the coastal region but farmers have not fully utilised the component of value addition.
“Much of the value addition is in production of oil from the fruit, but we can get many products. Coconut farmers should not be living in poverty because they can get many value added products," Adoyo said.
"They should not sell their coconuts to Tanzanian traders, but should instead partner with the county governments to do value addition and help improve their livelihoods.”
(edited by Amol Awuor)