Young coconut for drinking
Coconut is perhaps the world’s most useful plant. Every part of the plant can be used. The interior of the fruit is used for food, drink, medicine and chemicals and the exterior is used for thatching materials,timber and made into ladles, spoons and ornaments. The young leaves are used for wrapping and the older leaves for roofing. In many cultures the coconut is considered the tree of life. Native to Malaysia and surrounding areas. It spread with travel with seafaring people or simply by the coconut falling and floating to new locations.
Coconuts grow on palms that flourish on the seashores in the coastal regions of all tropical seas around the world. The coconut palm can grow to 30 m high and is topped by a crown of large leaves. Monkeys are often used to harvest the coconuts. The coconut itself is technically a drupe, meaning a fruit with a hard stone in the center. Its drupes grow in bunches of about a dozen coconuts each, and each tree yields thousands of coconuts over an average 70-year life span.
The outer husk is very smooth and tough. It is coloured greenish to reddish brown and becomes a grey colour as the fruit matures. Between the outer husk and the nut itself is a layer of loose, thick, brown fibers, which protects the pulp. The center of the coconut is filled with a pearly liquid, known as coconut water, which has a refreshing, slightly sweet taste. Grating coconut and mixing with water makes coconut milk,squeezing it without the addition of water will result in thick coconut milk, which is a staple in cooking in many countries.
Freshly grated coconut is used in many Nonya/Malay cakes.
The young coconut in the picture are prized for its soothing, sweet coconut water and the immature and tender flesh. The top of the coconut fruit is sliced off, using a straw to drink and a spoon to scrape the interior flesh.
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