COCONUT - The Tree of Life

The Coconut Tree is called "The Tree of Life" because of the endless list of products and by-products derived from its various parts. Food, shelter, fuel - name it, the coconut has it. The coconut industry is considered a major dollar earner that provides livelihood to one-third of the country's population.


COCONUT MEAT
From coco meat can be obtained coco flour, desiccated coconut, coconut milk, coconut chips, candies, bukayo or local sweetened shredded coconut meat, latik copra and animal feeds. Coco chips, which are curved and wrinkled coconut meat, is crisply toasted and salted. It is very popular in Hawaii. Coconut flour can be used as a wheat extender in baking certain products without affecting their appearance or acceptability. The coconut milk is a good protein source. Whole coco milk contains about 22% oil, which accounts for its laxative property.


COCONUT OIL
Copra is dried coconut meat that has a high oil content, as much as 64%. Coconut oil is the most readily digested of all the fats of general use in the world. The oil furnishes about 9,500 calories of energy per kilogram. Its chief competitors are soya bean oil, palm oil and palm kernel oil. Coconut oil retards aging. It counteracts heart, colon, pancreatic and liver tumor inducers. And it is easy to digest. Other products from coco oil are soap, lard, coco chemicals, crude oil, pomade, shampoo, margarine, butter and cooking oil.


Coconut Leaves
Coconut leaves produce good quality paper pulp, midrib brooms, hats and mats, fruit trays, waste baskets, fans, beautiful midrib decors, lamp shades, placemats, bags and utility roof materials.







Coconut Fruit
The coconut fruit produces buko, often used for salads, halo-halo( crushed ice with sweetened fruit), sweets and pastries. Buko is of three kinds: mala-kanin, or having the consistency of boiled rice; mala-uhog, mucus-like consistency and ready for eating; and mala-katad, or like leather. The last kind is the one used for making sweets. A mature coconut, or niyog is used in making sweets and special Filipino dishes. The "sport fruit" of the coconut is the makapuno. Considered a delightful delicacy and largely used for making preserves and ice-cream, it cannot be kept in storage and will not germinate. It has three layers: semi-acid, soft and hard meat.


Infloresence
Out of the bud of the coconut tree's infloresence is a juice called coconut toddy or tuba. The fermented juice is the common alcoholic drink in the coconut region. The principal uses of the toddy are: as fresh beverage; for producing alcoholic beverages; for producing vinegar; for making sugar; and as a source of yeast for making bread. Coconut toddy, after being left for five days then distilled, produces an alcoholic spirit known locally as lambanog which is more or less 98% proof. Other products from the coconut tree's infloresence are gin, vinegar, candy trays, Christmas and wall decor.

Let's take a short break... enjoy the video below.

COCONUT WATER
Coconut water is also called liquid endosperm. It is thrown away during copra making and becomes a great waste. Uses of coconut water include: coconut water vinegar; coconut wine; production of the chewy, fiber-rich nata good as a dessert and as alaxative; as a growth factor; and as a substitute for dextrose. Another breakthrough use is in coconut water theraphy to cure renal disorders. "Bukolysis", as it is also called, is the medical process of reducing or dissolving urinary stones of the urinary tract systems using buko water from 7 to 9 months old coconuts. This nata-like growth is dextran and can be made to comply with the specifications for clinical dextran, then we have in the coconut water an important contribution in the atomic defense against radiation sickness.


COCONUT HUSK Coconut husks are made of bristle fiber (10%), mattress fiber (20%) and coir dust and shorts or wastes (70%). The abundance of fiber nakes it good, stable supply for cottage industries that make brushes, doormats, carpets, bags, ropes, yarn fishing nets, and mattresses, etc. Coir fiber can also be used as substitute for jute in making rice, copra, sugar, coffee, bags and sandbags. It is also suitable for making pulp and paper, etc. The well board is manufactured from coir dust and short fibers. The board produced is as good as narra, plywood or masonite. Coir yarn, coir rope, bags, rugs, husk decor, husk polishes, mannequin wig, brush, coirflex, and fishnets are other products that can be obtained from coco husk. Out of coir dust can be obtined coco gas, lye insulator, insoflex and plastic materials.


COCONUT PITH Out of its pith can be produced coco pickles, guinatan and lumpia. Its guinit can produce helmets, caps, wooden shoe straps, handbags, fans, picture and house decor like lamp shades and guinit flowers for the table. Ever heard of the "Millionaire's Salad"? It's fit for any ordinary man though, it is made up of "palmetto cabbage" which is simply the local ubod or the "heart" of the coconut. Ubod is considered one of the finest vegetables in the Philippines. Crab meat with ubod in lumpia can prove to be very delicious.


COCONUT SHELL Coconut shell produces the core of the most saleable household products and fashion accessories that can be turned into lucrative, wide-selling cottage industries. Among them are shell necklaces, shell bags, cigarette boxes, shell ladles, buttons, lamp shades, fruit and ash trays, guitars, placemats, coffee pots, cups, wind chimes, "coco banks", briquetted charcoal and activated carbon. The most important use of coconut shell is activated carbon produced from its charcoal. It is utilized in air purification systems such as cooker hoods, air conditioning, industrial gas purification systems, and industrial and gas masks.


COCONUT TRUNK & ROOTS Out of the coconut trunk, hardy and durable wood is obtained to make benches, tables, carvings, picture frames, tables, tool boxes, and construction materials, among many others. Paper pulp can also be extracted from the coconut trunk and other woody parts of the tree. A Medicine, beverages and dyestuff are obtained from the coconut roots.