Do you like liquid or coconut pulp? Then read what useful properties they contain, calorie content. How to choose and how to open the fruit of this palm tree yourself. Coconut is a palm fruit that is mistakenly called a nut. This healthy product is actually a stone fruit (drupe), comparable to a peach or cherry, for example. In the scientific language of botanists, the coconut belongs to the palm family, in the class of monocots and the angiosperms department. Everything that the palm tree gives is used in cooking and cosmetics. The fruit is used for food: juice, pulp, bua (sprout inside a ripe coconut) and the trunk of the palm tree itself.
Coconut can be considered a symbol of tropical countries. Southeast Asia is rightfully considered the birthplace of coconut trees. Young (green) and dry mature (brown) fruits from Malaysia, the Philippines, India, Thailand, Indonesia, Sri Lanka, Vietnam, Brazil and other tropical places are also brought to the Nordic countries and to Russia. Coconut palms thrive on sandy shores, although in principle they can take root in any soil. By the way, not only a small palm tree from the mother-trunk can "take root", but a nut that swam in the ocean for a whole year and nailed to the shores of some beautiful uninhabited island can also start growing.
How to choose a coconut
Initially, you need to choose a suitable palm tree with coconuts, like me … and then try to pick it, but you shouldn't do this better (also like me - in some shorts), because the result was not worth it - torn legs, stomach and arms, and the coconut is like that and could not rip off. However, they firmly hold on there … And its cost in Thailand is only 25 cents:)
There are many varieties of coconuts. In addition to those that are often found in supermarkets - brown (old), there are orange, yellow, green. In shape: round, elongated, oval. Sizes - for every taste. But, not a single core inside does not depend on the size, shape and color of the coconut itself. You can take the largest one and as a result, upon opening, find a small nut inside. And vice versa - there is little peel, but the nut is large. Therefore, the size of the fruit does not affect the amount of coconut juice in the seed.
The average and most common size of a coconut is 20 × 30 cm in length, weighing approximately 1.5 × 2.5 kg. The largest amount of juice inside a young fruit. It does not depend on the variety, whether it is brown, green or yellow and of any shade and shape. Young coconuts have flesh that is fresh, edible and easier to digest. In green fruits, it is soft, you can easily scrape off with a spoon. When choosing, it is better to give preference to round fruits with a smooth skin (or less frayed). This is how young coconuts look, delicious, with a lot of liquid inside. When choosing a fruit, you need to shake it to hear the splash of liquid. If it is not there, or cracks are visible outside, you should not take a coconut. The more mature (darker) fruit tastes better than the green one. Yes, there may be a little less liquid, but it tastes better.
How to open a coconut
You will need a sharp, medium sized knife or hammer. If the coconut is young and smooth, take a knife and cut off a small part where the twig grows, over and over again, as if you would get a triangle or square. A hole will appear in which you insert the straw and drink the juice.
Fruits that are more ripe so it will not work. Here you will have to knock with the tip of the knife first from above (vertically) into the flesh, and then towards the slot in the horizontal plane. As if cutting off a slice or a quarter from above. Until the hole appears. And again - insert the drinking straw.
The photo shows an old ripe coconut. The old brown fruits of the coconut are the strongest (we see them in stores). For example, the locals do not stand on ceremony, but simply beat him on the floor until a crack appears, from which the juice is drunk. If this barbaric method does not suit you, take a hammer and knock on the coconut in a circle. But first, you need to dig a couple of holes in the dark eyes of the brown fruit with a knife and drink the juice. After the water from the coconut is drunk or drained, open the shell. The easiest way to do this is to insert a knife into the crack and, with pressure, split the sturdy nut into two parts.
Here are a couple of videos on how to open a coconut:
And here is a video of how to open an old coconut at home with a knife in 20 seconds:
The composition of vitamins and calorie content of coconut
Calorie content of raw coconut pulp
per 100 g - 354 kcal:
- Proteins - 3, 3 g
- Fat - 33.5 g
- Carbohydrates - 6, 23 g
- Food drags - 9 g
- Sodium - 20 g
- Water - 47 g
- Mono- and disaccharides - 6, 2 g
- Saturated Fatty Acids - 29.7 g
Calorie content of coconut water
per 100 g - 20 kcal.
Vitamins:
- Thiamin (B1) - 0.07 mg
- Riboflavin (B2) - 0.02 mg
- Pantothenic acid (B3) - 0.3 mg
- Pyridoxine (B6) - 0.05 mg
- Folic acid (B9) - 26 mcg
- C - 3.3 mg
- E - 0.2 mg
- Phylloquinone K - 0.2 mcg
- PP - 0.5 mg
- Choline - 12.1 mg
Trace elements:
- Potassium - 356 mg
- Calcium - 14 mg
- Phosphorus - 113 mg
- Sodium - 20 mg
- Magnesium - 32 mg
- Zinc - 1.1 mg
- Selenium - 10.1 mcg
- Iron - 2.4 mg
- Copper - 435 mcg
- Manganese - 1.5 mg
Useful properties of coconut
Coconut juice is not only useful, it quenches thirst, nourishes our skin with moisture from the inside. But do not assume that the benefits of coconut are only in juice. Its pulp is eaten raw, dried and processed, it is useful and easily digestible. Coconut fruits contain a little sugar, so even diabetics can eat them. If you constantly include coconut dishes in the diet, then the level of bad cholesterol in the blood will decrease, the immune system and the thyroid gland will strengthen, intestinal parasites will die, constipation and gas formation will disappear, if you often have to endure physical and mental stress, then coconut juice or pulp will easily replenish energy losses.
The benefits of coconut can also be found in products made from it. For example, coconut oil. Its use helps patients with hypoglycemia, normalizes the menstrual cycle, and eases the course of psoriasis. The oil contains a lot of lauric acid, which kills viruses, harmful bacteria and fungi.
In cosmetology, there is also a benefit from coconut: juice, pulp, oil are used. They are used to make creams, lotions, gels, soaps, shampoos, etc. which are useful and give their vitamins and minerals to our skin and hair.
Video about useful properties:
About the dangers of coconut
If you do not bite the hard fruit with your teeth, then there will be no harm that a coconut would bring to a person. There are recommendations for people with weak intestinal motility or individual intolerance to the fetus and products from it: use carefully, avoid large portions. And this fetus has no special contraindications.
Interesting facts about coconut
- Coconut is so named by the Portuguese, from the word "Soso" (coco) meaning "monkey". Apparently they saw the muzzle of a monkey on the fruit peeled from the fibers. It is reminiscent of 3 dark eyes on a fibrous brown shell. Also, in Asian countries, monkeys have been specially trained since ancient times, so that they learn to climb palm trees and pluck coconuts.
- The coconut tree bears fruit for 50 long years. On a branch, from 15 to 20 fruits ripen in 8-10 months, and in southern countries in one year you can collect up to 200 coconuts from one coconut palm.
- Overripe fruits with dried flesh are useful as are young green ones. The juice is overripe and tastes like cow's milk, and it is great for cleansing the intestines.
- Animals like cats, dogs, and even chicken also love coconuts.
