Research Article Physical Characteristics of Amorphous and Crystalline Coconut Sugar Powder with the Addition of Tricalcium Phosphate (TCP) as an Anticaking Agent Bambang Nurhadi , Nandi Sukri , Rudy Adi Saputra, Fatonah Isnaini Wandhani, and Afifah Indah Nurlita Faculty of Agric-Industrial Technology, Universitas Padjadjaran, Sumedang, Indonesia Correspondence should be addressed to Bambang Nurhadi; bnhnur@gmail.com Received 24 November 2019; Revised 17 July 2020; Accepted 3 September 2020; Published 14 September 2020 Academic Editor: Chaowalit Monton Copyright © 2020 Bambang Nurhadi et al. This is an open access article distributed under the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited. The coconut sugar powder produced by vacuum drying and conventional method has high hygroscopicity due to its high sugar content (mostly sucrose). Therefore, it is easier for caking to occur during storage. An anticaking agent such as tricalcium phosphate was therefore added to the powder to maintain its stability. The purpose of this research was to determine the physical characteristics of amorphous and crystalline coconut sugar after the addition of tricalcium phosphate (TCP) in different concentrations. The two types of coconut sugar were prepared by the conventional method, which gave it a predominantly crystalline structure, and the vacuum drying method, which gave it a mainly amorphous structure. The TCP at concentrations 0, 0.5%, and 1% was added to both types of the coconut sugar. The addition of the anticaking agent affected the water sorption of coconut sugar by decreasing the monolayer water content for both types of coconut sugar. TCP seemed to give more significant effect on decreasing the hygroscopicity of crystalline coconut sugar than the amorphous one, while similar trends were obtained in increasing flow ability of both types of coconut sugar. The capacity of TCP to cover the surface of the host coconut powder was proposed as the mechanism of TCP in decreasing hygroscopicity and increasing flow ability of the host powder. 1. Introduction Coconut sugar is commonly produced from the evaporation of coconut sap (called as neera). Neera is the sweet, oyster white-coloured sap liquid tapped from the immature inflo- rescence of coconut. Neera is obtained from the immature inflorescence of a coconut which is about to burst, and the tapping could be done for 12 to 15 times [1]. The main com- position of neera is sucrose with the amount more than 80% (per total solid) and followed by a tiny amount of glucose and fructose (about 2.3% per total solid) [2]. Coconut sugar pow- der is produced conventionally by heating the coconut sap until reaching a saturated solution, and crystalline coconut sugar powder finally is formed. Coconut sugar was also pro- duced by drying the coconut sap using spray drying and vac- uum drying [2]. The dried coconut sugar produced had a mainly amorphous structure in contrast with the crystalline structure of coconut sugar obtained with the conventional method [2]. In drying of coconut sugar, maltodextrin as drying aid material was added to increase its anhydrous glass transition temperature higher than ambient temperature. The addition of maltodextrin which has a high glass transition tempera- ture might increase process stability and storage of solid food in reducing caking phenomena and stickiness and increasing the flow ability. The addition of maltodextrin in the ratio of 50% (from total solid) was needed to create a significant impact on glass transition temperature in producing coconut sugar powder with vacuum drying [2]. Both the types of coconut sugar were hygroscopic even though the dried amor- phous coconut sugar was more hygroscopic than the conven- tional coconut sugar powder [2]. Common problems that occur in food powders during storage that contribute to quality and functionality are caking Hindawi International Journal of Food Science Volume 2020, Article ID 5320173, 10 pages https://doi.org/10.1155/2020/5320173