By Beth Green
If there’s a
food that world travelers could take on as a mascot, it’s the coconut.
Shade. Photo by Beth Green |
The origin of
the coconut is unclear, though most sources I’ve seen point to the tree
developing somewhere in the reaches of the Pacific Ocean—South America,
Indonesia, or somewhere in
between. Because the versatile
plant can grow in sandy soil as long as it has direct sun and warm temperatures
year round, it quickly spread along trade routes, masking its true source.
Ancient traders probably carried coconuts with them in their canoes as they
traveled between Pacific archipelagos. They could drink the water of the
coconut, scrape the insides to eat the white, translucent flesh, then use the
split shell as a dish or other tool. The fibrous husk was woven into ropes and
cloths. But even without human help coconuts are ready travelers; blown from
their trees to the water in a storm, coconuts can float for leagues and
germinate on whatever tropical shore they land.
The uses of
the coconut fruit, tree and leaves are nearly limitless—and the societies of South
East Asia have relied on this miracle food for millennia. Anyone familiar with
Thai curries is probably aware that their creamy texture comes from coconut
cream, which is the liquid derived from mashing coconut meat. (Coconut cream is
also a main ingredient of one of my favorite sundowner cocktails and the
official beverage of far-away Puerto Rico—the Piña Colada.)
Coconut cream is a very important source of dietary fat for Asia.
In the West
we’re told, in an effort to be healthy, to avoid fats whenever possible but some fat is important for our bodies to
work properly. In
the far north, native cultures relied on seal fat, in middle China and middle
Europe, pig fat, in Japan, fish oil, and in South Asia and Polynesia, coconut
oil. The availability of sources of protein and fat in the diet shaped and
changed the regional cuisines into what they are today.
Mature coconuts drying in Bohol, Philippines. |
If it isn’t
harvested from young coconuts, the dried white meat of coconuts is delicious
too. In the West we use it as a snack, grated into a pretty garnish for chocolatey
cakes, or perhaps with sugar as a filling for candy bars like Bounty. In Asia,
you may be more likely to find coconut bits in a soup, or candied, or even used
as part of an offering in a temple or shrine.
But it’s coconut water that made the coconut the ideal travelers’ companion hundreds of
years ago and which still makes it a refreshing pick-me-up after a day of
sight-seeing in the tropics. Unlike rivers, lakes, or rainwater catchment, the
water found inside young coconuts is pure, hydrating, and cooling, and can be
drunk immediately after opening the shell. Travelers today drinking coconut
water out of the green husk of the fruit can know they’re experiencing exactly
what travelers thousands of years ago would have tasted, and out of the same,natural, cup.
Interesting piece, Beth. My only question is how did those early travelers ever open a coconut to eat in in the first place? Here in Rome, vendors sell chunks of coconut as street food. The chunks are suspended on a little fountain that trickles water to keep the coconut cool and to prevent them from drying out. They are sold from carts that offer other snacks and drinks.
ReplyDeleteWell, one way that I've tried myself when I didn't have a machete is to find a nice sharp rock and throw the coconut against it until it smashes. Takes some coordination (and is great exercise!) but eventually it works! I think knives made of bone, shell or volcanic glass would also have been used. Are there coconut palms on the shores of the Med? I don't remember--seems like it would be too far north.
ReplyDeleteCoconuts don't grow here unless someone in Sicily has them. We do have palm trees, but not coconut palms.
DeleteRefreshing! Love coconut juice. Thailand has plenty.
ReplyDeleteOoh, the milk/juice from "tender coconut" is a popular stall type beverage in India that I always enjoy. For one thing, as a tourist, I don't have to worry about contamination or boiling, etc, like I would even with water. Secondly, yum...it's heavenly. I'm curious about about your cooking class in Cambodia though. If you use fresh coconut meat, you don't need any cooking oil?
ReplyDeleteThanks Bhavna! Thailand has delicious coconut juice!
ReplyDeleteSupriya, that's right, you can use coconut cream as the cooking oil if you want to have a Thai-curry like dish. Here's a link to the blog I did on that cooking class: http://www.alaskankangaroo.com/1/post/2009/12/the-cooking-class-and-the-killing-caves.html
Lovely post, Beth. I'm a big fan of coconut in all its forms, including those yummy cocktails...
ReplyDeletereplica bags near me replica bags new york replica bags near me
ReplyDeleteHomepagea knockout post navigate hereyou can find out more check my blogblog link
ReplyDeletewhy not look here check my blog resource blog click here for more additional reading
ReplyDeleteClicking Here dolabuy hermes Read Full Article helpful resources recommended you read special info
ReplyDeletepublié ici sacs de répliques AAA pourquoi ne pas vérifier ici Balenciaga Dolabuy lire ce message ici répliques de sacs ysl
ReplyDelete