The document discusses various plantation crops grown in India including their processing methods. It provides area and production statistics for major crops like coconut, arecanut, cashewnut, tea, and coffee. For coconut, it describes the components and different processing steps to produce copra, coconut oil, and other products. Similar processing details are provided for arecanut and case studies on drying coconut kernels and developing a arecanut dehusking machine. Processing of palm products like neera, toddy and jaggery are also summarized along with a case study on palm jaggery preparation. The document concludes with a brief overview of tea processing steps.

1. Master’s seminar (PSM-591)
QUALITY AND PROCESSING OF PLANTATION CROPS
Speaker
Sahil Pathania
H-19-88-M
MSc. 2nd year
Spices, Plantation, Medicinal and Aromatic Plants

2. Parthasarthy et al., 2006
INTRODUCTION
Plantation crop - denotes the extensive cultivation of crops
like tea, coffee, coconut, arecanut, cashewnut etc.
These crops are all restricted in geographical distribution to
tropics mostly between 200 N & S.
 They have great potential for utilization of waste land like
rainfed dry land, hilly, arid and coastal areas
India is one of the largest producers of the plantation crops in
the world
Generally consumed only after processing
Quality is a measure of the degree of excellence or
acceptability by the consumer

3. AREA AND PRODUCTION OF PLANTATION CROPS -
ALL INDIA (2018-19)
Area in ‘000 Ha
Production ‘000 MT
(https://teacoffeespiceofindia.com & Horticulture Statistics, 2019)
Crop Area Production
Coconut 2151 14682
Arecanut 522 901
Cashewnut 1105 743
Tea 567 1350
Coffee 454 319
Cocoa 94 24

4. TOP 5 STATES IN AREA AND
PRODUCTION OF PLANTATION CROPS
337.02
1043.28 970.23
619.8
252.05
1205.93
4105.84
5490.32
3786.02
290.05
0
1000
2000
3000
4000
5000
6000
Andhra pradesh Karnataka Kerala Tamil nadu Odisha
Area Production
Area in ‘000 Ha
Production ‘000 MT
Horticulture Statistics, 2019

5. 
Family - Arecaceae
Chromosome no. 2n = 32
•Kalpavriksha (tree of heaven)
•Origin – South East Asia
•Known as King of Palms
•Coconut of commerce is drupe
•Grown in more than 80
tropical countries
• In India, highest productivity
is in Tamil Nadu
•Highest area and production is
in Kerala
•70 % of coconut is used for
edible purpose
Chadha, 2001
COCONUT (Cocus nucifera)

6. Coconut consist of :
 Exocarp
(outer part)
 Mesocarp
(Husk)
 Endocarp(thin
hard layer)
 White
endosperm
(Kernel)
 Large cavity
(Filled with
water)

7. PROCESSING
Coconut can be processed for different final products
 Copra
 Copra cake
 Coconut virgin oil
 Coconut milk
 Coconut water
 Coconut cream
 Toddy vinegar
 Desiccated coconut
powder
Parthasarthy et al., 2006

8. PROCESSING FOR COPRA
 Storage (in heaps under shade)
Husking become easier
Moisture content of meat decreases and
thickness increase
Yield of copra and oil increases
Improves quality
 Dehusking
Usually done with the sharp pointed
shard of steel
 Nut splitting
Hard shell is exposed and can be split
open into two halves using a machete
Shanmugavelu et al., 2002

9.  Drying : copra is obtained
after drying the coconut
kernel.
 Reducing the moisture
content from 50 to 6
percent
 Three common methods of
drying are
1. Sun or solar drying
2. Kiln drying
3. Indirect drying

10. Sun drying
 Produce good quality product if
whether conditions permit
 Used for small quantity of
products
 No expense for fuel
 Cheap method
Solar drying
 Reduced the drying time up to
50% compared with open sun
drying
 Reduces losses due to sudden rain
and windy climate

11. KILN DRYING
Two type of kiln dryer used
 Direct type
• The coconut shells used as fuel
burned under the grill
• To provide heat for vaporization of
moisture
• Copra- dark, sooty with smoke and
scorched
 Semi direct type
• Dryer has a combustion pit located
about 3 feet away from the drying bed
• The hot combustion product is
channelled to the drying bed via an
underground tunnel
• Capacity of 2000 nuts
• Dries in 24-25 hours with resultant
moisture of 6%
Romulo and Arancon, 1996

12. COPRA DRYING USING HOT-AIR DRYER
Smoke does not come in contact
with kernel
Produced clean and white copra
Cocopugon hot-air brick copra
dryer is most common hot-air
design
The heat is passed through the
brick tunnel
The surface is made up of bricks
(split nuts are kept )
30 hours needed for one batch to
obtain 6% moisture
Romulo and Arancon, 1996

13. TODDY
Palm tree
Cut 10-15 cm from top inflorescence
Tapping (Cutting the end of spadix )
Collection of sap each day
Neera
Drink fresh Fermentation
Toddy
Kumari et al., 2016

14. VIRGIN COCONUT OIL
Selection
of nuts
• Fully matured nuts are selected
Splitting
and
grating
• For small scale it is done by using motorized coconut grater
De-shelling
And
crushing
• For medium and large scale
• Brown testa is removed , washed in hot water and crushed in fine shredder
Drying
• Dried to moisture level of 5% in a hot air vacuum dryer and sun drying
• Require 3-4 hours for one batch maintaining temperature below 700C

15. Drying
• Necessary to remove residual moisture in addition
• This increases the shelf life of oil
Filtration
• After settling of oil for 1-3 days filtration is done using 3-4 layers of filter cloth
Jayasekara and Gunathilake, 2007
Extraction of
oil
• Done in vertical screw type or hydraulic oil press manually (small scale)
• Electrically operated screw type cold press expeller (large scale)

16. VALUE ADDED PRODUCTS
Coconut
water
Coconut
oil cake
Coconut
coir
Coconut
flour
Shanmugvelu et al., 2018
Coconut
milk
Coconut
jaggery
Coconut
candy
Coconut
jam

17. CASE STUDY-1
• Results showed that the quality of coconut kernel can be effectively obtained by drying at 700 C
temperature
•This technology will be more helpful for the industrialist and small scale farmers to dry the copra in a short
time with good quality nuts
Characteristics 600 C 700 C 800 C 900 C
sun dried
copra
Impurities, % by wt, Max 1 0.5 0.5 1 9
Mouldy cups, % by count, Max 5 2 2 2 25
lack cups, % by count, Max 3 2 7 8 2
Wrinkled cups, % by count 2 2 7 8 2
Chips, % by wt, Max 1 3 7 9 1
Moisture content % by wt, Max 6.2 6.51 6.34 6.42 7
Oil content (on moisture free basis), % by wt,
Min 65.27 67.1 42.7 40.1
FFA 0.5 0.5 0.8 0.9 63.1
Peroxide value, meq/kg 2 2 7 10 0.8
Specific gravity 0.93 0.92 0.9 0.89 0.93
Iodine value 8.1 8.2 8.5 8.9 8.7

18.  Family - Arecaceae
 Chromosome no. 2n = 32
 Fruit of arecanut is single
seeded berry
 Source of chewing nut
 Popularly known as betel
nut or supari
 Used in religious practices
and social ceremonies
 Used against cough, leprosy,
anaemia and obesity
 4th most commonly addictive
substance
Gupta et al., 2018
Arecanut (Areca catechu)

19. HARVESTING
 Harvested at different stage of
maturity (6-7 months and 9
months)
 In kerala fresh fruits are generally
stored by steeping in water
 Kernel chewed as both raw and
processed
 Three main processed products of
Arecanut are as
1. Kottapak
2. Kalipak
3. Scented supari
Parthasarthy et al., 2006

20. KOTTAPAK
Good quality product contain
 Absence of immature nuts and surface cracking
 Good cutting feel, inside structure and taste

21. KALIPAK
‘Kempadike’ and ‘kalipakku’
 Harvested at 6-7 months maturity
 Nuts are soft and finger nail can be pressed into it
 Outer skin is dark green colour
 Good quality product contain crisp chewing feel, glossy appearance and absence of over mature nuts

22. SCENTED SUPARI
Popular in North & Central India
Shanmugavelu et al., 2002

23. LEAF SHEATH
 Its is another raw material
obtained from arecanut palm
 In a year, a palm sheds 5-6 leaves.
About 1000 million leaf sheath
weighing about 2,33,000 tonnes
are available annually in India alone
 The CFTRI, Mysore has developed a
machine for making cups and
throw away plates which can
substitute the non-biodegradable
plates now being used
Annamalai and Nayar, 1982
Anon, 1977

24. Nuts having light brown skin colour are considered
superior
Greying and yellowing are indications of poor quality
The presence of dried tender nuts with a darker colour is
also a defect.
GRADING
Shanmugavelu et al., 2002 and Bhat et al., 2017
Grade Characteristic
Premimum Premium grade product at 98-99%
excellence
Superior Quality guaranted at 94-97% excellence
Grade A Plus Quality guaranteed at 90% – 93% excellence
Grade A & Grade A Quality guaranteed at 85% – 90% excellence
Normal Split Quality assurance at 80% – 84% excellence
Grade B Quality assurance at 70% – 74% excellence
Reject Quality (Lali) Poor quality pieces
Grade C “Zero” Dark red and black pieces

25. CASE STUDY 2
Experiment Size Rotating
Speed (rpm)
No. of
blades
Result
Experiment 1 Small, medium and
large
125 2
Experiment 2 Small, medium and
large
62 1
Experiment 3 Small, medium and
large
125 1
• Dehusking arecanut machine is developed and tested successfully
• Results compared and 3rd experiment was best method
• Concluded that the machine has an efficiency of 74% with single cutter at 125 rpm.

26.  Family – Palmae
 Native to West Africa
 Produces most edible oil in the world
 Highest yielding among oil bearing
trees
 60-80 feet in height
 Commercial cultivation of this crop in
India started during 1970
 To be processed with in 24 hour
• Because the quality of oil
extracted deteriorates owing to
the development of FFA
• Results in poor quality oil
OIL PALM (Elaeis guineensis)
Shanmugavelu et al., 2002

27. PROCESSING FLOW CHART
Poku, 2002

28.  Family – Arecaeae
 ‘Tree of life’ and ‘Kalpaga tharu’
 Grows on every type of wasteland
including rocky areas
 Adult palmyra palms mostly used
for tapping sap (toddy)
 Sometime used as wind break
 In tropical region adds beauty to
the landscape
 State tree of Tamil Nadu since
1978
Davis, 1985
PALMYRAH PALM (Borassus flabellife)

29. COLLECTION OF NEERA
Tapping of inflorescence
↓
Collection of sap
↓
Filtration
↓
Pasteurization
↓
Consumption
Neera •Sap known as neera
•Highly nutritious
•Transparent, pleasant
smelling and sweet in
taste
•Free of sucrose (does not
cause diabetes)
•Poor man’s beverage
Mani et al., 2018

30. Collection of sap
from
inflorescence
↓
Provision of yeast
culture
↓
Fermentation
↓
Toddy
Toddy
•Toddy is fermented product
•Sap collected by tip of unopened flower
•Sap oozes out and collected in small pot
tied underneath
•In 6-8 hours it is formed as a result of
fermentation
•Alcohol content is estimated in range of
4-6%
•Sugar is converted to ethyl alcohol
during fermentation
Mani et al., 2018

31. PALM JAGGERY
 Neera is collected from the plant
 Half the quantity of juice is boiled at
400C
 Declined to pH 7 (using triple super
phosphate solution)
 After boiling other half of juice is added
and when temperature reaches at 850C
it is neutralized (pH 5)
 Boiled to crack 1000C
 Transfer to settling tank
 Clear juice is siphoned
Clarification

32.  Clear juice is boiled again
 The scum is removed
 Juice is stirred to help rapid
evaporation
 Pan taken out and striking the
pan is done
 Gur sets in 15-20 minutes
Boiling
The keeping quality of jaggery can be improved by storing in
humidity-controlled chamber maintaining the RH below 65%
Vengaiah et al., 2013

33. VALUE ADDED PRODUCTS
Neera
Palm
candy
Toddy
Jaggery
Palm cola

34. CASE STUDY 3
Sample no. Treatment conditions Quality attribute
Time
(min.)
Temp.
(0 C)
Lime (%) Colour Taste Flavour Texture
S1 174 111 0.9 5 7 8 8
S2 150 124 1.5 5 5 6 6
S3 150 117 2.5 2 3 2 5
S4 126 111 2.1 8 9 8 9
S5 174 121 0.9 7 7 7 8
S6 150 117 0.5 6 8 3 7
S7 174 121 2.1 7 8 8 9
S8 150 117 1.5 5 6 5 6
S9 126 121 0.9 8 8 4 3
Control Traditional practice 7 7 5 6
•The best treatment for preparation of solid jaggery was 2.1% lime,
processing temperature of 1110C and processing time of 126 minutes with
an average sensory score of jaggery i.e. 8.5 (highest among all)

35.  Native to South East Asia
 Became common beverage in China
during seventh century
 Assam contributes highest area
under tea cultivation
 Planted on large scale in North India
in 1834
 Commercially started in various
regions like
Nilgiris (1859)
Waynad (1859)
 Only plantation crop grown in
Himachal Pradesh
TEA (Camellia sinensis)
Shanmugavelu et al., 2002

36. PROCESSING
 The manufacturing of tea starts in the field from the
time of plucking
 The processes involved in tea manufacturing are
1. Withering
•Done to prepare the leaf for
subsequent processes of manufacture
•Leaves undergoes a period of
dehydration
•Artificial withering also done in drum
•Leaves should not produce cracking
sound when squeezed
•When leaves are pressed with hands
they should form a compact ball
•Withered leaf will be like a silk hand
kerchief to touch and feel

37. 2. Rolling
•Carried out by machine
•Leaf attain a twist and rolled
•The polyphenol substances contact with
enzymes during the breaking of leaf
•In presence of oxygen, the polyphenol
oxidised
•Changes to highly coloured substances
(theaflavins and thearubigins)
•After 1st roll,the leaves are spread over
sifter
•Done to seprate the fine tea from coarse
•The fine one is sent to fermentation room
•The coarse tea is given second rolling
•Teas are rolled 2-3 times for 30-40 minutes

38. ]
]
3. Fermentation
•Leaves spread on concrete bed or
aluminium trays
•Fermentation vary from 1-3 hours
•Low humidity causes blackening of
leaf
•Usually tea growers judge it by
smelling, touching and feeling
4. Drying
•Undergoes a process of drying in oven
called as ‘driers’
•136-1550 C initially then reduced to
1050 C
•Leaves are dried for 30-40 minutes
•Final drying done at 73.750 C before
packing
Shanmugavelu et al., 2002

39. CUT, TEAR & CURL METHOD
 Short noted as CTC process
 Two rollers meshing closely against each other
 8-12 teeths per 3cm
 Roller crush the leaves
 Teeth tear and finally they are dried
 Bits size 1-1.25 cm

40. GREEN TEA
 Preferred mostly in China and Japan
 Heated quickly after harvesting
 Cooled, rolled, heated and dried to 4%
moisture content
 Olive or pale yellow in colour
 Strong pungent
BRICK TEA
On high demand in Tibet and China
 Long and tough leaves
 Coarse leaves heaped on cement floor
to generate heat
 Black fungus grows
 Responsible for peculiar taste
Soni et al, 2015

41. GRADING IN TEA
www.teaboard.gov.in

42.  Arabica coffee - Coffea arabica
 Chromosome no. – 2n = 44
 Origin – Ethiopia
 Robusta coffee - Coffea canaphora
 Chromosome no. – 2n = 22
 Origin – Central Africa
Cultivated mainly in Karnataka, Kerala,
Tamil Nadu and Andhra Pradesh
COFFEE
differnce between coffee arabica robusta - Bing images and
Chadha, 2002

43. Coffee Board, 2020

44. PROCESSING
Coffee is processed by two methods
• To prepare
plantation or
parchment coffee
Wet
method
• To obtain cherry
coffee
Dry
method

45. WET METHOD
 Ripe berries are preferred
 Pulped on same day to avoid
Fermentation
 Mucilage break down
 24-36 hours for arabica
 More than 72 hours for robusta
 Takes longer time in cool weather
 They are washed with clean water 3-4
times
 The parchment should not stick by
hand after washing
Natural fermentation
Gosh and Venkatachalapathy, 2014

46. Treatment with alkali
Removal of mucilage
by friction

47.  Soaking in water for 24 – 42 hours
 Improves quality
 Sun drying for 7-10 days
 Surface drying takes 24-48 hours
 Hulling
 Polishing
 the beans are packed into
clean new gunnies
Gosh and Venkatachalapathy, 2014

48. DRY METHOD
Gosh and Venkatachalapathy, 2014

49. •Family- Sterculiaceae
•Native to South
America
•‘Gift of god’
•Name cocoa derived
from plant caucault in
Mexico during15th
century
•Intoduced to India in
early 1963
•Large scale cultivation
started in 1970s
Cocoa (Theobroma cacao)
Shanmugavelu et al., 2002

50. PROCESSING
 The splitting of pods is done
within 2-3 days of harvesting
 Pods are banged by some hard
objects
 Opening with knife damages
the beans
 Pre-fermentation inside the
pod is hastened during
harvesting and splitting
 10-12 pods gives 1 kg wet
beans
 3 kg of wet beans gives 1 kg of
fermented and dried beans
Guechi et al., 2010

51.  Pulp or mucilage covering the
bean is removed
 Simple process but carried out
properly in order to maintain the
quality of bean
 Flavor compounds and flavor
precursors like free amino acids
and reducing sugars are formed
during fermentation.
 The amount of these compounds
is a confirmation of the well-
fermented process and is
responsible for the flavor profile
of the finished chocolate
Afoakwa et al., 2008 and Lefeber et al., 2012
Fermentation

52.  Best method for small quantity of beans
 4-5 trays required at one time
 Tray can be 60 cm long and 25 cm wide
 10 kg of wet beans required to fill one tray
 Top tray covered with leaves
 Gets completed in 4-5 days
 2-6 kg beans can be fermented
 Bamboo baskets of diameter 20 cm and height
15 cm are used for 2 kg of wet beans
 Unripe beans not ferment properly
 After 24 hours it is covered with gunny bags and
applied weight on it
 Beans are fermented in 6 days and on seventh
day they are taken for drying
b. Basket method
a. Tray method

53. Drying
 After fermentation beans are
dried under sun or by artificial
means
 2-3 cm thin layer for sun drying
and time to time stirring
 Dried up to 6-8% moisture
 To check dryness of beans take
beans in hand and crush them
the characteristic sound
indicates the correctly dried
beans
Shanmugavelu et al., 2002 and Saltini et al.,2013
Quality and flavor of cocoa products strongly
depend on the various stages of cocoa
processing

54. VALUE ADDED PRODUCTS
Chocolate
liquor
Cocoa
powder
Chocolate
Cocoa
nibs
Cocoa
butter

55. CASE STUDY 4
storage 6 12 18 24
Quality
parameters
BNTPE
F
NA TPEF BNTP
EF
NA TPEF BNTPE
F
NA TPEF BNTP
EF
NA TPEF
Pod weight 310 505 400 450 400 265 525 350 350 434 300 454
Bean./pod 46 48 49 38 40 50 56 47 45 54 44 54
Bean wet
wt./pod
95.62 141.
36
127.1 68.69 36.8
2
88.2 125.27 97.2 91.3 117.6 55.8 117.6
Average
bean wt.
2.08 3.0 3.6 1.80 2.2 1.80 2.23 1.6 2.02 2.2 1.3 2.2
% of pods
with
browning/de
cay
4.16 0 0 8.30 0 0 8.30 4.16 0 16.7 8.30 0
Odour 0.1 0 0.1 0.5 0.3 0.1 2.1 0.5 0.3 3.5 1.6 1.2
•The percentage browning/decay of cocoa pods were affected by storage environment and
storage days
•Beans stored in TPEF did not have any sign of decay throughout the periods of storage.

56. •Family – Anacardiaceae
•Chromosome no. 2n = 42
•Native to Brazil
•Introduced to Malabar coast
of India in 16th century
•Grown in tropical and sub-
tropical region
•Considered as ‘Gold mine of
the waste land’
•Cultivated on large scale in
Brazil, East Africa and India
CASHEW NUT (Anacardium occidentale)

57. PROCESSING
 Before processing the nuts
should be dried
immediately under sun
 If the surface is of cement
concrete drying for two full
day is sufficient
 If it is of mud drying for 3-4
days is necessary
 Easily broken in the
processing
Karthic et al., 2014

58. CLEANING AND GRADING
 Raw nuts are cleaned
 Graded into three
types:- small, medium
and large
 In most area this
grading is not done
before processing
Karthic et al., 2014

59. ROASTING
 To make shell brittle
 It was the earliest process
 Nuts heated on metal pan in
open fire
 Due to heat and slight charring
the shell become brittle
 Not followed in organized
sector of industries
Open pan roasting

60.  Fed into rotating hot drum
 Ignites the shell portion of nut
 Maintains temperature because
of oil oozing out of the nuts
 The roasted nuts still burning are
covered with ash
 To absorb the oil
 Drum kept rotating for 2-4
minutes
 Main disadvantage is loss of
CSNL
Shanmugavelu et al., 2002
Drum roasting

61.  Easiest and commonly used
technique
 Broken kernel will be 3-4 %
 No loss of CSNL
 Roasted for 25-30 minutes
at 100 lb pressure
 Require 12-24 hours of
cooling under natural air
Steam roasting

62. SHELLING
 Shelled by labour
 Outer hard skin is removed
 Easily removed after roasting
PEELING
 Extracted kernels have thin outer skin
 Brown and pinkish in colour
 Removed by hands
 Become easier if heat treatment is
given for 4 hours in drying chamber

63. GRADING
W - 180, is the ' King of Cashew '
- They are larger in size and very
expensive.
W - 210, are popularly known as '
Jumbo ' nuts.
W - 240, it is an attractive grade
which is reasonably priced.

64. W - 320, are the most popular
among cashew kernels and highest
in terms of availability, worldwide.
W - 450, are the smallest and
cheapest white whole kernels
and hence the favorite among
low priced whole grades.
www.cashewindia.org

65. PACKING
 Done in tins
 The air inside tin is
exhausted
 Recharged with Co2
 Before sealing air tight
 Each tin contain 10 kg of
kernels
Shanmugavelu et al., 2002

66. CASE STUDY 5
Test Number of nuts
fed into the shell
Completely shelled
nut
Whole kernels
recovered
Broken kernels
recovered
Shelling time
(s)
1 50 48 40 10 25
2 50 47 34 16 25
3 50 49 36 14 25
4 50 50 32 18 25
5 50 46 33 17 25
Mean 50 48 35 15 25
•The average shelling efficieny of machine is 95% (higher than the motorised
sheller) and whole kernel recovery is 70% (higher than mannual sheller )
•Beneficial for large scale production

67. CONCLUSION
High value industrial crops which have great potential
for the utilization of waste land
The processing plays an important role in plantation
crops as they are generally consumed only after
processing
The quality of plantation crops depends upon the
processing methods. The new techniques, methods
and improved machineries play an important role in
enhancing the quality viz., improved drying method,
machineries, optimized storage period etc.

68. THANK YOU