Hello! Today we will tell you about the nut, which
until recently was an unexplored exotic for Russian residents, and today it is sold in
any supermarket. We are talking about a coconut or just a coconut. In this video, you will
learn about how it grows, what is inside it, how it can be used, split and eaten, how it
is useful and who should limit its use. Botanically speaking, coconut is not a nut
at all, as is commonly believed. In fact, it is a stone fruit with a juicy pericarp,
like a peach, apricot, sweet cherry or cherry. This is not a fruit or a nut. A dry coconut
hairy coat just next to the fruit indicates that it is a drupe.
The strict classification is as follows: angiosperm division, monocot class, palm order, palm
family, coconut genus and coconut palm species. One of the features of coconut trees is that
they willingly live in close proximity to sea water, although they do not need it at
all. This is due to the ease with which the shallow roots of the palms absorb moisture
from the abundantly irrigated soil on the seashore. Coconut skin is not damaged in salt
water. Coconuts are waterproof and unsinkable. This means that a nut that has fallen into
the waves of the sea can be carried out into the open sea and, after long wanderings, be
thrown onto some distant shore, where after a while a young palm tree will be born. They
can drift in the ocean for a whole year, wash ashore and germinate: either in the ground
or in the sand. By sea currents, coconuts are from their native shore at a distance
of up to 5 thousand kilometers. History knows of cases when individual coconuts remained
viable, reaching Norway. Coconuts are said to have existed on Earth
for at least 3,000 years. It is believed that they were seen by dinosaurs. There are about
1300 types of coconuts that grow on different continents in 80 countries around the world.
Today the plant can be found in the tropics of both hemispheres: in Brazil, Malaysia,
Thailand, Indonesia, India, Sri Lanka, Vietnam, the Philippines. Southeast Asia is considered
the homeland of the plant. They occupy about 5 million hectares of land, of which more
than 80% are in Southeast Asia. Due to its vast coastal territory, the leader
in the extraction of coconuts is the multi-island state of Indonesia, where 18 million tons
of fruit are produced. The countries with the highest production of coconuts are also
the Philippines (15 million tons) and India (12 million tons), which together with Indonesia
account for 72% of world production. It is followed by Sri Lanka, Brazil, Vietnam, Papua
New Guinea and Mexico - with a combined share of 14%.
The scientific basis for the name suggests that it comes from the Portuguese word coco
(coco) - monkey. Three coconut eyes are associated with a monkey's face.
The inhabitants of ancient India knew about the health benefits of coconuts. They used
the plant as an antibacterial, antiviral, antifungal, and immune-boosting agent.
The missionaries called the coconut tree the "lazy tree", believing that it corrupts the
local population, making them an inactive consumer, while everyone must work and earn
their own food. And coconut trees do not need to be watered, processed or anything else.
They just grow and bear fruit. It turns out a paradise life: picked up a coconut, split
it - got drunk and ate. The question arises why all palms look so
strange? An incomprehensible scaly bark, a slender trunk, and all the leaves seem to
grow from one point. It turns out that palms are not simple plants and not trees at all.
They do not have bark and annual rings, their wood has a fibrous structure. All palms belong
to the Monocotyledonous class. It also includes such plants as Wheat, Aloe, Bamboo and Ginger.
It must be said that all monocotyledonous plants do not have a cambial layer that allows
the plants to grow in width. This means that all monocots are herbs. It turns out that
the palm tree is essentially grass. But the grasses are small, and the palm is big. How
so? The thing is that the Palm has one large bud, from which all the leaves grow. Gradually,
this kidney becomes larger. Having reached its maximum size, it grows upward, forming
under itself something like a thick bunch of stems.
So a palm tree has a trunk that is always the same size and does not branch out like
other trees. Its formation begins at 4-6 years of plant life. The smooth trunk reaches 45
cm in diameter. One palm tree lives up to a hundred years, reaching 30 meters in height.
Leaves reach 5-6 meters in length. Each huge leaf has 200-250 small long leaves. One leaf
grows for three years, after which it falls off. From it, a small root remains on the
tree, which soon dries up and also disappears. Young palms have a light brown wood color.
The older the tree, the darker its wood. The root system of this unique plant has its own
characteristics. The central root of the plant dies off, instead of it, numerous adventitious
roots are formed, emerging from the base of the trunk. The root system goes deep into
the ground by half a meter and diverges in different directions by 8 m. Each root lives
for about 10 years, then it is replaced by a new one. It is this unusual structure of
the roots that allows palm trees to grow well on the sandy coast, which is subject to wind,
ebb and flow. If conditions are favorable, then the palm
tree blooms year-round. Every 3 - 5 weeks, panicle inflorescences with heterosexual flowers
are shown from the leaf sinuses, reaching a length of 2 m.Yellow round female flowers
up to 3 cm in size are in the lower inner part of the panicle, their number is several
hundred. This arrangement in the future provides a better fixation of the fruit. The male flowers
are located in the upper part of the panicle for better pollination. There are more male
flowers than female ones. The first leaves of the future palm tree,
sprouting from the nut, look like feathers. Only after the first ten leaves do real ones
begin to grow. An adult plant produces 12 to 16 new leaves per year. Four months after
the separation of the leaf, the rudiment of the inflorescence appears, and the flowers
themselves grow after another 22 months. And a year later, the very shell of the inflorescence
will open. First, male flowers bloom, and only then female flowers. Roughly 50-70 percent
of flowers are not pollinated, especially in dry weather. And from the pollinated, fruits
develop that ripen within a year. There are also dwarf coconut palms, which
grow up to only ten meters in height, and begin to bear fruit after three years, as
soon as they reach one meter. Plants live much shorter lives than their larger counterparts
- only 30-40 years. Such palms are self-pollinating, and therefore they do not need relatives in
the neighborhood. The fruits of dwarf palms are smaller than those of vigorous ones, but
it is much easier to harvest from a maximum height of 10 m than from trees with a height
of 20-25 m. Coconut has a complex structure, which schematically
looks like this • Exocarp, this outer leathery layer, is
yellow, green or red, penetrated with fibers (coir). It protects the fruit from damage
and is a protective capsule for the coconut. • Mesocarp, this is the second layer, fibrous,
with a thickness of 2 to 15 cm. This layer prevents the coconut from overheating and
allows it to stay on the water. In young fruits, the mesocarp is eaten. It serves for a long
time, does not rot and retains its shape well. Because of these properties, it is used as
a filler for mattresses, ropes and coarse fabrics are woven from it.
• Endocarp, this is the inner shell. It is a very hard shell with three pores that
lead to three ovules, only one of which develops into a seed. It contains the embryo of the
future palm tree. Utensils and handicrafts are made of endocarp. Like this coconut shell
ocarina flute. • Copra is a hard endosperm, a white fleshy
surface layer about 1.5 cm thick. • Endosperm is coconut water that fills
the inner cavity of a coconut. An unripe coconut is completely filled with a clear liquid,
and a ripe fruit is half full of yellowish and oily due to the oil secreted by copra,
the endosperm. After a while, drops of fat appear in the liquid, and an emulsion is formed
- coconut milk. Large coconuts are spherical, they can grow
up to 40 cm in length, up to 30 cm in width, and their weight ranges from one and a half
to two and a half kilograms. The ripening time of the fetus ranges from 8 to 10 months.
From 60 to 200 fruits are harvested from one palm tree per year. Young nuts are usually
green in color and unusual in shape. Their crumb is softer, sometimes gel-like, while
in more mature fruits it is hard and less juicy. Brown and “hairy” fruits are ripe
nuts. The fruits hang on the tree in groups of up to 20 pieces.
The liquid inside the coconut is the same coconut water, rich in magnesium and calcium.
It is a mixture of protein and starch. When the fruit is not yet ripe, its juice has a
clear or slightly cloudy color. A ripe coconut already contains oils in the water, which
makes the endosperm yellowish. In the tropics, coconut water is often used
to quench one's thirst. During the ripeness of the fruit, oil from the surrounding white
pulp begins to release into the coconut water, it thickens and becomes cloudy, acquires the
consistency of milk, then fermented baked milk and heavy cream, after which it hardens.
There is no cholesterol in coconut water. It is sterile and can even be used intravenously
and as an antiseptic. There is evidence that in the 60s of the XX century it was used to
replace blood plasma with transfusions. The liquid in coconuts contains almost no calories,
carbohydrates and fats, but it is rich in B vitamins, ascorbic acid and proteins. But
the crumb of the fruit, on the contrary, is an exceptional source of healthy fats, and
also contains many minerals, vitamins and amino acids.
Coconuts are harvested fully ripe or a month before ripening, depending on the intended
use. The green coconuts are harvested six months after the coconut tree blooms. But
part of the harvest remains on the trees, that is, for another 5–6 months, the fruits
reach full maturity. These coconuts turn brown by the time they are removed. Their juice
has a tart taste, reminiscent of kvass. The cost of overripe specimens is much lower than
green fruits. When choosing fruits, you must always take
this moment into account. For example, when nutrient-rich coconut water is of interest,
buy green coconuts. If, for culinary or other purposes, the pulp of a tropical fruit is
needed, then a nut with a dark brown skin is more suitable.
Harvesting is carried out all year round with a frequency of 2 months. At this time, you
need to be especially careful, since falling from a great height, coconuts acquire a terrible
destructive power. An experienced picker can collect up to 1,500 nuts a day, for this he
needs to masterfully wield a long pole with a knife at the end. Less productive is the
method of collection with climbing on palms to a height of 20 m. There are no other methods
invented for picking fruits. Take a look. For example, Indian engineers have developed
a remote-controlled robot for picking coconuts from palms. It is fixed on the base of the
tree, wraps around it with its body and moves upwards with the help of eight wheels, and
at the top it cuts off the fruits with the help of a manipulator. The developers have
experimentally confirmed that it can climb palm trees 15 meters high and inclined up
to 30 degrees. Tests have shown that a picking robot works slower than a trained person,
but can pick coconuts from more palms in a day, the authors say. Thus, in an operator's
eight-hour working day, a robot can climb a tree 22 times, while collectors, according
to the authors, only manage to do it 15 times a day on average, mainly due to fatigue.
But they went farthest in Malaysia and Thailand, where specially trained monkeys are used for
harvesting. So on the plantations of the island of Koh Samui in Thailand, where the supply
of coconuts reaches 40 thousand pieces per year, the use of trained monkeys for harvesting
made it possible to collect twice as many nuts as if they were collected by humans.
This is due to the climbing speed. Collecting coconuts by monkeys has become a tourist attraction,
which gives additional profit to the plantations. One monkey can harvest about 1,600 coconuts
a day, while a human can only harvest 80 coconuts a day, all the while working hard. In 10 minutes,
the entire body of the pickup truck is filled with coconuts. In Thailand, there are even
special schools where monkeys are taught to collect extremely ripe coconuts.
The collection process is very simple. The monkey is on a long leash with the owner,
then it climbs on a palm tree and twists ripe coconuts, as a result of which the coconuts
fall and people collect them on the ground. Thus, the entire coconut business in Southeast
Asia is developed and is the leader in the production of coconuts in the world, solely
thanks to the monkeys. Agile and skilled climbers, they enjoy climbing
palm trees, are not afraid of heights and do not ask for a raise, but simply work day
in and day out. In addition, they do not need to take out workplace accident insurance.
Most of the nutritional components are concentrated precisely in the pulp of the coconut. Therefore,
this part of the fruit is of the greatest value. Today copra or pulp is isolated on
an industrial scale, using advanced technologies in production. The pulp, like juice, is in
great demand in the pharmaceutical industry, cooking and other industries.
Coconut milk, cream, shavings, flour, butter and sugar are most commonly used in cooking.
Coconuts are used in fruit salads, desserts, pies, soups and sometimes in main dishes.
Coconut oil is a fatty vegetable oil obtained from copra. It is made by hot pressing fresh
dried coconut pulp. It is mainly used in soap making, for the manufacture of cosmetics,
for the preparation of cooling fillings in wafer cakes and in the production of margarine.
With the popularity of Asian cuisine, coconut pulp has recently been used in European recipes.
Distillation (distillation) of Toddy gives a high-degree alcoholic drink - Arrak, which
is a clear liquid with a high alcohol content
and a pleasant nutty flavor. In the Philippines, this alcoholic drink is called lambanog or
"coconut vodka". Now let's see what the benefits of coconut
are. Each component of coconut contains a large
amount of vitamins, minerals, natural oils and antioxidants that can bring invaluable
benefits to our body. For example, nut pulp, containing fiber, improves vision, strengthens
the immune system and prevents the occurrence of cardiovascular diseases. Protein-rich coconut
milk has a positive effect on the general condition of the body, normalizes blood circulation
and increases concentration. It is well absorbed by the body, restores its strength, and also
normalizes water balance and reduces blood sugar levels. Therefore, it must be consumed
by people leading an active lifestyle, as well as those who have been diagnosed with
diabetes. Milk is also good for our skin. It improves her tone and makes her elastic
The
oil obtained from
coconut also has medicinal properties. It contains lauric acid, which kills various
bacteria, fungi and viruses, besides, coconut oil is easy to
digest and
does not strain the liver. It is very beneficial
for the stomach and intestines.