The coconut palm has been described as one of the most productive trees in the world. Some 200 different products can be sourced from it. Coconut products from this palm, which is indigenous to the Indian ocean area of the world, include coconut oil for cooking and cosmetics, desiccated (dried) coconut for cooking, copra for ropes and matting as well as a tastily potent alcoholic liqueur.
Coconut Used in House Building, Cosmetics, Matting, Rope and Gas Masks
Described by the Saturday Review of Politics, Literature, Science and Art, of October 1935 as probably the most productive tree in the world, the humble coconut palm is put to a variety of uses. The ancient tribes of the Indian Ocean, of which this tree is native, would use its bark to make the walls and structure of their homes, the leaves for roofing and leaf stalks to make a fine gauze to cover the windows.
The fibres from the shell of the coconut were used to make coir which in turn can be used to manufacture a sort of horsehair with which to stuff mattresses and other bedding or twined into rope. The fleshy kernel can also be dried to create copra from which the versatile coconut oil is produced. Intriguingly, the charcoal obtained from burnt coconut shells was used in early 20th century gas masks.
The Use of the Coconut Palm in Cosmetics and Cooking
The milk from a fresh coconut provides a tasty and refreshing drink in the steamy climate of the tropical rain forests such as those found on the Andaman and Nicobar Islands in the Bay of Bengal. Oil extracted from the dried kernel has many uses. Most notably used in soap and other cosmetics, it can also be used in cooking and has been used to make margarine and salad oils.
The white part of the kernel is dried to make desiccated coconut which has long been used in cooking. Desiccated coconut can be added to curries and other spicy Asian dishes or used to make the childhood favourite sweet of coconut ice or even coconut Madeleines – small sponge cakes spread with jam and rolled in desiccated coconut grains. Coconut milk can also be fermented to make an alcoholic liqueur.
Coconuts Used in Games, Music and as Bird Feeders
Coconuts also take part in a quintessentially English summer fête in the form of the coconut shy where, on payment of a small fee, a player is given three wooden balls and attempts to knock a coconut out of its metal cradle. Empty coconut shell halves can also act as a percussion instrument and were used with brilliant comic effect in the 1975 film Monty Python and the Holy Grail.
Then, of course, those empty coconut shell pieces can be used as bird feeders. Melt some suet or lard, add a good quantity of wild bird seed then fill the shell halves with the fat and seed mixture. Once the fat has solidified, hang the shells in a sheltered spot in the garden in the winter months and marvel at the extraordinary productivity of the humble coconut palm tree whilst watching the birds feed.
Elaine Findlay - An expert cook, Findlay's passion for food is evidenced by the size of her kitchen and her library of old recipe books
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