Crazy for Coconut!

Greg Patent's Newsletter

Coconut palms grow all over the place in Hawaii. And high up, as you see in this photo, the palm’s fruit, coconuts, bunch together.

Coconuts are nutritional powerhouses. Their white flesh is rich in oils, protein, vitamins, and minerals. And in green, immature coconuts, the center is filled with coconut water.

It’s this delicious water that people go crazy over. At farmers markets, especially, shoppers form lines to watch machete-wielding hackers slash away at the fruit to prepare it for sipping.

Coconuts in tub. The husks are intact. On the left you see green coconuts, young fruit denuded of their husks.

Coconut top being chopped off to expose its inner layer.

After cutting off the coconut top, the hacker continues to slash away some of the green. Fascinating to see how quickly and vigorously she machetes her way around the coconut.

Green, immature fruit, is ideal for sipping coconut water because it’s in abundant supply. As the coconut matures, the liquid level decreases as the fleshy coconut wall thickens.

Coconut water is not coconut milk. For coconut milk, you purée the white coconut flesh with some water to get a creamy liquid to cook with or to create tropical drinks such as piña colada.

In young coconut the white flesh—endosperm—is relatively thin. As the coconut matures, the flesh thickens, and the coconut’s cavity gets smaller.

Here are a few sipping-ready coconuts. The one at the front has a couple of straws visible. You can also see the thin layer of white flesh around the opening.

On a hot day, the cool coconut water really satisfies!

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