In Praise of the Kelapa

Rebecca Commons explores the cornucopia of gifts that this seed and its tree readily provides to mankind, and reveals that there’s much more to the unpretentious kelapa ~ or coconut as we know it, than one would suspect.

If anyone were to ask you what the largest seed in the world is, your answer is the coconut, the ‘nut’ part is really a misnomer, but then I know for sure I want my Thai curry to be rich with coconut rather than cocoseed.

Our renaming of it came about in the early 16^th century when Vasco De Gama brought the seed back from his voyage to the Indian Ocean.  Safely back in Portugal, possibly celebrating at a lively homecoming feast, it was decided that the three dark circles on the shell resembled a ‘coco’.

In Portuguese ‘coco’, derived from ‘macoco’(monkey), means monkey face!  Hence the botanical name for the palm: Cocos Nucifera (nucifera means nut bearing)

The Polynesian puka puka and Tokelau islanders make the very most of their coconut trees, consuming a large percentage of their calories from coconuts.  These people have vanishingly low levels of heart disease, and now worldwide, coconut has become the latest darling of the superfood set.

Found to contain medium chain triglycerides (MCT), a highly digestible healthy fat, and therefore ideal for people with digestive problems like colitis, MCTs have another little trick up their sleeves, they carry Lauric acid (also found in breast milk) which aids the immune system, and can even help with fat burning.

The list of ills that may be helped is long and impressive, from dental and candidiasis problems to liver and thyroid diseases.

I was wondering how the coconut palms which trim a thousand tropical islands, the iconography of a perfect beach holiday, actually get there.

I discovered two good reasons.

Firstly the husk around the coconut is light and buoyant, meaning it drifts easily on the oceans currents, propagating naturally in other areas.

Secondly, the palms thrive in humidity, free draining soil and a supply of fresh groundwater ~ conditions common by the seashore.

Mind you, sunbathing under the shade of a palm carries a risk. 

Around 150 people a year are killed by falling coconuts.

The trees bloom up to thirteen times in a single year, so the coconuts are forming constantly.  With most weighing around 3 kilos ~ that, falling from a 25 metre tree can reach 80 kph and hit your unsuspecting head with a force equal to a metric ton!  Pack your beach tent and stay safe!

But where the coconut palm really shines is in the sheer amount of uses all parts of it can provide.

It seems strange to us in our world of excesses, but for thousands of years societies actually based their entire existence around the coconut palm.  It was revered as a vital source of essential materials and of course food.

As recently as the early 20^th century, coconuts were used as currency for the purchase of goods in the Nicobar Islands of the Indian Ocean.  Originally the husk was burned for fuel, and nowadays it is used to make brushes, rope, coir matting, and stuffing.

The wood and leaves have always been used as highly effective building materials, and woven goods.  The sap is a vitamin rich drink, or when fermented, potent toddy ~ must get the recipe!

A large coconut can quench your thirst with a delicious litre of coconut water.  It can even function as an organic Tupperware dish and cup ~ Nice to ponder, as you sip, that it’s been a cooking ingredient and medicine component for millennia.

The flesh can be eaten fresh, or dried to form copra, which is used as a base for coconut oil, which in turn is used in all manner of edible products such as spreads and confectionary.

The chances are that you will have used personal products containing coconut oil, as it is a natural and softening ingredient, gentle enough even for babies.  In fact the oil is sometimes used in hospitals to feed and massage premature babies.

All in all a recent study highlighted no fewer than 360 contemporary uses for the coco palm, half of which were for food.

And then there is the unmistakable aroma, which for me is redolent of sundrenched summers, swimming, lazy afternoons and cocktails at 6 (let’s not forget Malibu Liqueur!)

In the Philippines they have a proverb, which encapsulates the uses of this exceptional tree.

‘He who plants a coconut tree, plants vessels, clothing, food and drink, a habitation for himself, and a heritage for his children’

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