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| Coconut trees adorn a white sand beach. |
For this article I would like to refer to the coconut tree as the plant and the coconut as the fruit. The coconut tree (cocos nucifera) belongs to the palm tree family. It has a branchless trunk with leaves, inflorescences and fruits clustered on the upper part of the tree. The coconut is round in shape and its skin turns to grayish brown when matured. Inside the outer skin is a fibrous coir. The husk surrounded a water filled shell containing the meat and embryo. People should stay away from a tall coconut tree with matured fruits because a hit on the head coming from a falling coconut will be very fatal.
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| coconut tree with fruits |
Many Filipino families, 25% to 33% of them, depend on the coconut for their livelihood. Coconut tree is the easiest and one of the most profitable plants to grow in the tropics. A coconut planted or buried in the ground will sprout after several days or weeks. And from then on the tree healthily grows even with less fertilizer or pesticide unlike other crops. A tree yields fruits after about 6 years, and will live up to a hundred of years. When the tree fruit all a farmer has to do is just watch them and hire workers when harvest time comes. The good thing is that coconut tree is everbearing unlike other crops that bear fruits by season.
In the past and even today, in rural areas, some poor Filipinos make for their living climbing up the tree, cut off portions of its inflorescence crosswise and gather the sap for a toddy drink called "tuba". This drink is one of a kind considering that it can get people drunk when taken in excessive amount even if the sap is just freshly gathered from the tree. Left alone, unsold or unconsumed "tuba" turns into an all natural healthy vinegar after some time. When the sap or "tuba" is fermented or distilled and aged, it becomes a wine. It is called "lambanog" in Tagalog. Other product derived from coconut sap includes coco sugar.
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| coco sugar |
Families with sizable areas of land planted with coconut earn most of their income from the dried meat of the coconut called copra. The production of copra is a big industry which provide the farmers and the government money. Coconut products are one of the leading exports of the Philippines which account for about 64% of the world's production.
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| green coconuts for sale |
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| green coconut with drinking straw |
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| an opened green coconut with flesh |
Some people love to consume coconuts especially the young green one for its water and tender jelly like flesh which is called "butong" in Visayan or "buko" in Tagalog. The water is tasty, refreshing and invigorating and is rich in anti-oxidants and electrolytes. It is comparable or even better or healthier than commercial sport drinks because coconut water is all natural.
People do not usually eat the matured coconut meat because of its bland taste and hard texture. They instead grate and extract from it the so-called "milk" or "gata" which is used as ingredients for delicacies such as "suman", "biko", "binignit" and other snack foods. Coconut milk is also added to soup and dishes.
Although the locals have been using the milk from fresh matured coconut meat for generations, they do not do it to extract oil for cooking. Oil can be produced from fresh grated meat by putting it on a wok and heating it until oil is produced. The oil that is made is fragrant with distinctive coconut aroma. It is then sifted to separate it from coconut sediments and then placed in a container such as small bottles and other vessels. The oil is used especially by folk healers to massage people to relieve their muscle and joint pains or heal dislocated or broken bones. Superstitious people use the oil to immerse their amulets inside the bottle. They called the oil filled bottle with amulet "lana" or "laning-laning" in the Visayan dialect. Although homemade coconut oil for massage is soothing, some people shun it because of the coconut smell that may not be desirable when the one who has it is near other people.
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| an opened matured coconut with shell and meat |
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| commercial coconut milk in sachet |
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| grated coconut meat |
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| fresh coconut milk |
Matured coconut meat is the most economically profitable produce of the tree. From it, is derived oil and other products. Coconut oil is arguably one of the healthiest in the world. There are sources though that state that coconut oil contains significant amount of saturated fat that is not good for the heath. But other reliable groups claim that oil from coconut comes naturally and need not much processing or addition of compounds that makes it good for consumption despite its high saturated fat content. Coconut oil is different from the so-called vegetable oils like soy, canola, corn and others which need complicated mechanical pressing to extract their oil. In addition some of the vegetable oils are products of chemical extraction process which can affect the quality of oil. Coconut oil had been demonized in the past as unsafe and unhealthy especially from soybean farmers to promote their own product. Fortunately, the trend is that coconut oil has gained wide acceptance from some health professionals that it is safe and healthy for human consumption.
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| de-husked coconuts |
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| coconut oil in plastic container |
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| extra virgin coconut oil |
Other products from coconut include cosmetics such as soap and shampoo and foods such as coconut cream, milk, coconut flour among others.
Aside from those already mentioned about the products and benefits from the coconut, there are many other things that can be derived from the coconut tree. Almost all of its parts are useful. An upright coconut cut in half with the husk and shell still intact can be made as scrub to clean floor especially the wooden one. The fibrous husk can be a material for filling mattresses and potting composts. Next to the husk is the hard shell that can be made into buttons and charcoal. The leaves are used as wrappings for "suman", a glutinous rice cooked in coconut milk and and woven as pouches called "puso" to contain a boiled rice. A broom can be made out of the midribs of the coconut pinnate leaves. This is called "walis tingting" in Tagalog. In a situation when temporary shelters are needed to camp soldiers or other people in the field, coconut fronds can be a material for thatched makeshift huts. Petioles and husks can be used as fuel for cooking. In contemporary time when forest woods are scarce and expensive and cutting of trees in the forest is strictly prohibited by the government, sawed coconut trunks also known as coco lumber provide materials for low cost housing constructions.
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| coconut scrub and broom |
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| boiled rice wrapped in woven coco leaves |
The Philippines is fortunate to have the coconut tree. It is a blessing that God gives to the Filipinos for their sustenance and health. Tropical paradise as depicted in the west is an island with white sand beach surrounded with turquoise water with coconut trees or palm trees as vegetation. This palm tree deserves people's admiration considering the benefit it gives to the people and community to include the nation's economy. The coconut tree is truly a tropical "tree of life".
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| a beautiful tropical island with coconut trees |
