The Coconut Is a Special Delivery Indeed, Good for Eating, Drinking and . . . Communicating?
The Coconut Is a Special Delivery Indeed, Good for Eating, Drinking and . . . Communicating?

Tuesday, June 24, 2008

You've probably tasted coconut in cakes or cookies, but have you ever eaten raw coconut straight from the shell? You don't see too many whole coconuts around Washington (you can sometimes find them at the supermarket), but the meat inside this tropical nut is eaten by millions of people. In fact, the coconut is the most widely grown and used nut in the world, according to Jonathan Crane, a tropical-fruit expert at the University of Florida.

"Even I don't know all the different varieties," he said.

The coconut palm is sometimes referred to as the "Tree of Life" because it's useful from top to bottom. Except for the roots, every part of the coconut tree is harvested in the tropical areas where coconut palms are common. The milk is a refreshing drink (mainly from younger coconuts); the meat is eaten raw or dried and also pressed to extract coconut oil; the two hard outer shells are burned for fuel or made into utensils and crafts; the strawlike matting between the outer shells is used for potting plants or to make twine; the palm fronds are used to make thatched roofs and brooms; and the wood from old, unproductive trees is used for building.

That's pretty useful!

Here are more interesting facts about coconuts.

Eating Coconuts

· The meat inside a supermarket coconut is hard and crunchy. But in tropical countries, coconuts are often eaten when they are very young and the flesh is soft and jiggly. A big piece of shell is typically used to scoop out the sweet jelly, which is transparent and gradually gets whiter and harder as the coconut ages.

· Coconut milk is sweet and waterlike but eventually dries out. Coconuts are quite nutritious! In fact, in the country of Burma, which was recently devastated by a cyclone, many people drank coconut water after the storm because no fresh water was available.

Coconuts in History

· When future president John F. Kennedy served in World War II as an officer in the U.S. Navy, his boat was rammed by an enemy ship. He and his men were stranded in the Solomon Islands in the Pacific Ocean. Kennedy carved a message on a coconut shell and gave it to some natives to deliver to a Navy base, leading to the crew's rescue.

· Because coconut water is sterile and mixes easily with blood, it was safely used as an emergency transfusion liquid during World War II. That is, it was injected directly into the veins of patients who had lost a lot of blood and needed to replace it quickly.

Coconut Geography

· Coconuts are native only to the South Pacific, but they were spread around the globe by explorers hundreds of years ago.

· A coconut can survive months of floating in the ocean. When it washes up on a beach, it can germinate into a tree!

· In the United States, you can write an address on the outside of a coconut, slap on the correct postage and drop the whole thing in the mail. Amazing! "Yes, coconuts are mailable as long as they are presented in a dry condition and not oozing fruit juice," said Dave Partenheimer, a spokesman for the U.S. Postal Service. He couldn't say how many are mailed each year, but too many wouldn't be good. "They don't work that well with the equipment," he said.

-- Margaret Webb Pressler