Cocos nucifera

L.

Coconut (E); Ogop (Cu); Palma de coco (Ch,S); Coco (S); Cocotero (S) . No palm is more useful and better known than the coconut, the money crop in San Blas, where it serves as well as a nickel in fiscal transactions. An acre of coconut plantation may yield 5,000 to 10,000 nuts a year. The liquid in the center of the coconut when immature is nearly 95% water, the rest sugar. At this stage, it is called a pipa, and these are consumed wherever there are coconuts. Panama analyses of pipas reveals 92% water, 5a% carbohydrates, 1% protein, 1% oil, and 1% mineral. The pipa juice is often used as a "chaser" with seco in Darien (!). As the nut approaches maturity, the milk should not be drunk in quantity as it tends to be diuretic. Cuna Indians, when piercing the ears and noses of newly born girls, draw a string soaked in coconut mild through the hole to hasten healing. Before it matures, coconut meat is like a custard in flavor and consistency (!). The white meat underneath the ripe husk is very nutritious, containing about 40% oil, 10% carbohydrate, 3% protein, 1% inorganic matter, the rest mostly water. Panama analyses of the white meat reveal 51% water and 32% oil, while sun-dried copra exported from Sun Blas to Panama for oil extraction has 12% water and 60% oil. A rich liquid is squeezed out of grated coconut meat. Panamanians call this cream leche de coco. Analysis reveals 86% water, 4-5% oil, 3-4% protein, 4-5% carabohydrate, and 1% mineral, very close to cow's milk. It is boiled with rice tomake Panama's famouse arroz con coco with taro leaves to make a South Seas dish, and with game to make creamed meat dishes. It has been used as a substitute for cream in coffee. Natives mash up the meat in water and squeeze it through a sieve. The exudate is then boiled, the ooil ladled off the top. Fresh oil may be used to fry food. The oil keeps poorly and should be used shortly for cooking. It may be used for smokeless illumination after it has become ransid; rancid oil is put in a seashell and a wick is floated therein. Candles may be made of coconut butter or oil. The flowers are enveloped in a large leafy spathe, which ruptures when the flower opens. Elsewhere, natives tie it together and make a small cut near the tip so that gravity will direct the juices into a bucket tied to it. They let it "bleed" a few days and then make a new cut. The fresh juice or "toddy" tastes like apple cider. Fermenting produces wine or vinegar, which may be strengthened by distillation. Some Asian Indians believe that if the toddy is used regularly by pregnant women, the child will have a lighter complection than the parent. The sap, boiled until it becomes brown and thick, is called "coconut molasses." the thick residue on the bottom may then be sun dried to form a brown lump sugar. the molasses and grated coconut meat are mixed and allowed to harden into candy. The terminal foliage bud of the plant is edible cooked like cabbage, or raw as a "millionaire's salad", so named because cutting off the terminal bud kills a very valuable plant. Fallen nuts may germinate where they lie. In germinating nuts, the cavity is filled with a spongy mass called bread, which is eaten raw or toasted in a shell over the fire. Sprouting seeds may be eaten like celery. There is some starch in the pith of the stems, which can be extracted by mashing up the pith, extracting the fibrous parts, and letting the starch settle. This starch can be used to make bread. The pith from the top of the tree can be pickled in coconut vinegar. Scorched roots of the coconut tree have served as a coffee substitute. Dried leaves furnish short-lived torches, one being lit from the other. The San Blas often use coconut to bait their fish baskets. Halved coconut shells make very suitable utensils. Food is wrapped in leaves between two halves of a split coconut, which are placed over a fire. When the shells have nearly burned through, the food is removed. Drinking from a halved coconut vessel is supposed to impart good health. in New Guinea, natives sometimes travel on rafte made of coconut logs. Coconuts stuffed in the clothing serve as boyant life preservers. Tropical houses can be made of coconut stems and leaves, although other species often play the rold. Commercial fiber , resistant to salt-water damage, is produced from the husk. A commercial plant established in about 1957 in Pico Feo, San Blas, turned out about a ton a day, which commanded $140 per ton in Europe. Soaps made from coconut oil float and lather in salt water. Elsewhere, natives make soap of coconut oil and wood ashes. Ash of coconut leaf stalks may be used since it contains much potash. Placing palm fronds coated with mud over embers preserves fire overnight. Husks are used as fuel and mosquito smudges. Shells make good heat reflectors. Buttons have been fashioned from strands stripped from coconut leaves, needles being fashioned out of thorns of other palms or from bamboo slivers. Fish traps have been made from the ribs of the leaves, and crab traps from the leaf stalks. Boiling of the toddy yeilds a sugar water known as "jaggery", which, mixed with lime, makes an excellent cement. A resin, extracted by heating the inner husk of the coconut, is used to treat toothache among the Maje Choco. Coconut oil is used to treat alopecia, as an alexeritic, to treat burns, and as an insect repellent. The Maje Choco take the oil, mixed with honey, and monkey and chicken fat, for asthma. The milk is believed febrifugal. Coconut water is used as an antiemetic; fermented, it is used for constipation and consumption. The down at the base of the leaves is used to stop bleeding. The bark is regarded as antiotitic and antiseptic. the flowers are said to be astringent. The roots are believed to be antiblennorrhagic, antibronchitic, antidysenteric, fegbrifugal, and antigingivitis.