Report compiled for the 2007 Paris International Agricultural Fair
All you need to know about coconut
Processing
Coconuts are rich in nutrients and minerals, and are a choice food that keeps for a long time without deteriorating. They are almost unbreakable, filled with a sugary, fresh, sterile water, and what's more they float!
Coconuts are delicious!
Fresh coconuts
contain a very wholesome food, the immature kernel. This is a water- and sugar-rich gel that develops inside the nut eight to nine months after fertilization.
Ripe coconuts
, a year after fertilization, are often the only source of vegetable fat for tropical populations.
Coconut water
, which is rich in minerals and sugars, is clear, fresh and sterile!! in some regions, it is a supplementary source of drinking water.
It has saved the lives of many "Robinson Crusoes", adventurers and victims of shipwrecks or natural disasters, by providing them with emergency supplies.
Ripe kernels
are either eaten fresh, or processed: desiccated coconut, powdered coconut or coconut flour.
Coconut milk
is made by grinding the mature kernel finely, adding water and pressing the mixture. It can be concentrated to make coconut cream, the basis for other preparations such as coconut jam, or dulce de leche in Argentina, coconut syrup or coconut honey.
But also,
Palm cabbages
or palm hearts
, which are very popular: they can be added to salads, and are crunchy, with a sweet, nutty taste; cooked, they are the artichoke of the tropics.
Coconut sap
, which is extracted by cutting the inflorescences, is a refreshing and nutritious drink that is rich in sugar. If left in the open, it ferments within a few hours to make a slightly alcoholic palm wine, which is very popular locally. A stronger spirit can also be made by distilling palm wine. In Indonesia, the sap is also used to make coconut sugar (brown sugar).
A range of uses
The fronds
are used to make roofs, fences and wickerwork utility items: baskets, hats, partition walls, etc.
The stem and its derivatives
are used to build houses: piles, rafters, beams and columns, and also to make fences, boards, furniture, partition walls, walls and roofs, and for craftwork (the hard, heavy speckled brown wood is highly decorative).
The coconut husk
, the fibrous part that surrounds the nut, is a traditional, strong raw material used to make ropes, nets and coarse fabrics.
The hard, very dense shell
is a valuable craft material, for both decorative and utility items. It is also used as a fuel and to make activated charcoal.
OIls that have been traded since time immemorial
Copra oil
is extracted from crushed copra (60% of the weight).
Copra is the kernel of dried ripe coconuts
. The nuts are dried in small ovens, primarily by smallholders. Copra is generally produced at the site where the nuts were harvested. It is a long, drawn-out process, generally done by hand with very little mechanization, that produces a stable product that is easy to store and transport.
The oil is extracted from the copra by conventional crushing (using powerful presses). This crude oil is not edible as it is, and has to be refined before it is suitable for human consumption.
The remaining copra or presscake
is used as animal feed.
A virgin oil
can also be made by centrifuging coconut milk. It is clear and has all the flavour of the fresh nut. There is a growing niche market for this product, and its fans appreciate its many properties against obesity, hypothyroidism, diabetes, skin ageing, cholesterol, etc.
A far from ordinary oil
The oil is classed as a lauric oil (39 to 54% lauric fatty acids). It is rich in highly saturated short-chain fatty acids, and has a reputation for being less healthy than other vegetable oils.
However, it is widely used in the food industry, as a cooking oil blended with other vegetable oils. It is also used to make salad oils, margarines and shortening.
It is the traditional cooking oil in Southeast Asia and the Pacific.
On islands where fuel is expensive, coconut oil is sometimes used in diesel engines, with certain modifications.