TREE OF LIFE

The Coconut Tree (scientific name: Cocos Nucifera) is called the "Tree of Life" because all the parts of the entire tree--from top to bottom--are used to sustain human life. It must be the most useful tree in the world, bar none. The coconut is found in many parts of the world and, according to a 2012 report by UNCTAD (United Nations Conference on Trade and Development) on the top 10 coconut producers in the world, Indonesia, the Philippines, and India are the top three producers, followed by Sri Lanka, Brazil, Thailand, Vietnam, Mexico, Papua New Guinea and Malaysia, in that order. 

      

                                         

Food Products from the Coconut Tree

Buko – young coconut with soft white meat; it comes in several different consistencies, among them: mala-kanin has the consistency of boiled rice (kanin); mala-uhog has mucus-like consistency; alanganin is in between mala-kanin and mala-uhog; and mala-katad, or like leather, which is the type used in making sweets.

Chilled fresh young coconut (buko); below, the different consistencies.

What is Macapuno/Makapuno?

The Philippine Coconut Authority (PCA) calls Macapuno “coconut sport,” which is technically the very soft endosperm of a coconut that does not develop normally like regular coconut endosperm. Endosperm is the tissue produced inside the seeds of most flowering plants during fertilization, at which time it surrounds the embryo and provides nutrition in the form of starch, although it can also contain oils and protein, making it a good source of nutrition for humans; it has the same nutrients as regular coconuts. This unusual development results in a coconut fruit whose shell is packed with gelatinous coconut meat with little or no liquid. [Photo from marketmanila.com.]

Is THAT Really Fresh Coconut Water You're Drinking?

Coconut water is the thin liquid you find when you open a coconut. Chilled coconut water from the young coconut (buko) provides a refreshing and satisfying drink and is also considered a health tonic—it has been used traditionally to treat a variety of health problems.

The coconut water from mature coconuts (niyog), on the other hand, when you taste it directly from a newly cracked coconut, tastes slightly sour and not as sweet and pleasant as the water from the young coconut. This water is a lot cheaper than young coconut water and, if it is not wasted or thrown out in the processing of mature coconuts for its meat and oil, it is usually made into vinegar or alcoholic drinks.

[The following is my summary of Dr. Bruce Fife’s article on coconut water that appeared in the source listed at the end of this post. The photos are also from the same source. Printed with full permission from Dr. Fife.]

What is Coconut Flour?

[I'm very sad to say that, in this land of coconut trees, it is very difficult to find coconut flour; this imported package was the only one I could find in the supermarkets.]

Coconut flour is made from the meat of the mature coconut (niyog). Here’s how Dr. Bruce Fife of the Coconut Research Center describes the process of making coconut flour after the coconut meat is grated, as he observed when he visited the Philippines in 2004 on a speaking engagement.
[Printed with full permission from Dr. Fife.]

Cooking with Coconut Flour, by Dr. Bruce Fife, N.D.

How do you handle coconut flour?

Coconut flour behaves very differently from other flours. It cannot be substituted entirely for wheat flour in standard recipes, and it needs to be combined with wheat, rye, or oat flour. Read the excerpt below to learn how Dr. Bruce Fife (of the Coconut Research Center) developed recipes using coconut flour; He proves that it is possible to make delicious recipes using coconut flour--you just have to know how to handle it and use appropriate recipes. [These photographs are from his most recent cookbook, "The Coconut Flour Gourmet."] [Printed with full permission from Dr. Fife.] 
For the full article, see: http://www.coconutresearchcenter.org/hwnl_10-1.htm

Chicken Fingers, Blueberry Almond Muffins, and Gourmet Tortillas, from "The Coconut Flour Gourmet," by Bruce Fife and Leslie Fife. [Printed with permission.]