In the 16th century, Spanish explorers ran into their expeditions with a rare tree. Slewer palm trees with long and pinnate leaves and fruits in the form of large balls covered with a hard peel. The no n-woven, brown and thick material, and the three holes on the top made the fruit resemble the head of a monkey, hence the name of coconut. This is how Europe met Coco.
There are many negative opinions about coconut, such as cholesterol levels, it is bad for the heart and contains saturated fats. However, after many research, scientists have demonstrated otherwise: due to their nutrients, coconut is considered a superfood.
Coconut composition, vitamins
Coco is delicious and valuable: it contains vitamins B2, B6, C and E, as well as folic acid, potassium, calcium, magnesium, phosphorus, iron, sodium and zinc. Its energy value is about 620 kcal.
The best way to eat coconut is raw. But today you can buy coconut chips, coconut flakes that are eaten with milk or yogurt. Dry coconut nut can be used to make coconut or butter cream. Coconut juice, meanwhile, is a good complement to alcohol. Cold coconut milk is very refreshing.
Coconut pulp utility
It is the white and fleshy part of the nut, which after drying comprises approximately 70% fat, 14% sugar and 7% protein. The pulp consists mainly of saturated fatty acids. However, they are not the type of fat found, for example, in flesh or dairy products. They are fat with medium length carbon atoms (8-12 atoms), which makes them much easier to digest.
This milk already contains about 17% fat, so it is not dietary. When the milk cools, the cream floats on the surface. In English, “coconut milk” is crushed coconut pulp, while the murky liquid inside the coconut is “coconut water” or “coconut juice.”
The dried coconut pulp produces a copper that contains approximately 65% coconut oil. Oil is solid and white at room temperature. Coconut oil is a useful and tasty fat, which is used to make chocolate as a substitute for cocoa butter and also to make soap. Coconut oil can also be used in diesel engines. The fibrous pulp left after the extraction of the oil contains about 20% protein and is an excellent food for farm animals.
Coconut juice, its benefits
It is the liquid inside the nut. The liquid before entering the coconut and becoming coconut juice makes a long trip from the earth, throughout the trunk, to the fruit. During this trip it is filtered many times, so it does not contain impurities and converts coconut water into a sterile liquid until the nut is opened.
Coco is a “natural blood donor.”The interior sap of a young coconut has almost the same composition as human blood plasma. During World War II, coconut juice was used as a transfusion fluid when an adequate amount of natural blood was not available. Today, this method is still used in less developed countries. Coconut water is easily mixed with the blood and the human body absorbs it quickly. Coconut juice is administered intravenously as a substitute for body fluids, which hydrates the body and replenishes electrolyte deficiencies. However, it must be transfused directly from the fruit because only then it retains sterility.
Coconut juice is one of the richest sources in electrolytes. It contains more than most isotonic drinks used by athletes. It also contains more potassium than bananas. It is recommended for diarrhea, vomiting and stomach problems.
In countries where coconuts grow, coconut milk can be purchased with peel. Of course, you can also buy bottled or canned, but as you can guess, in this way you will lose in flavor.
What does coconut milk know?
Many people who have not tried coconut milk in their life are convinced that it is like condensed milk in can, only with coconut flavor. Coconut milk has a fairly soft taste, nothing sugary.
With coconut milk, coconut cream gelatin is prepared. Apart from the name, this dessert has little to do with the cream. It is very sweet, but does not contain any fatty, gelatinous and translucent material, which occurs in different ways in the form of candies. It comes from the fermentation of coconut milk.
Coconut cream comes from the Philippines. It occurs in Spain, of course, but also by commercial farmers of the Philippines. Its lack of fat, cholesterol and preservatives makes it a relatively healthy dessert. It is served with ice cream, fruit and drinks.
Coconut oil: disease prevention, useful properties
Coconut oil, coconut fat, is an oil obtained by pressing and heating copra, the hard pulp of the nuts of the coconut palm tree. It is usually found peeled, deoxidized and bleached.
In liquid form it is slightly yellow. At temperatures below 25°C it has the appearance of a truncated white fat (hence it is also called coconut oil). It is very rarely sold as cold-pressed oil, so it remains natural, with the typical smell of coconut, making it a highly valuable, coveted, and expensive commodity. The refined version is almost odorless.
Due to its solid form, the oil is suitable for spreading on bread and can successfully replace oil in baking. It is also ideal for frying at high temperatures, it does not burn, it does not go rancid and, thanks to its flavor and aromatic properties, it gives an oriental character to dishes. Lauric acid, which is converted to monolaurin in the human body, makes up about half of its content. The oil has strong antibacterial, antiviral, and antifungal properties that help improve immunity.
use for ailments
Coconut oil is used to treat many diseases and ailments such as toothache, acne, herpes, eczema, inflammation and ulceration of the skin, syphilis, alopecia, bruises, burns, coughs, colds, fever, digestive diseases, ulcers, stones. kidney problems, painful and irregular periods, vitamin deficiency, asthma, osteoporosis and more.
In nature, lauric acid is only found in large quantities in coconut milk and breast milk, from where it enters the child’s body and strengthens its immunity from birth.
Coconuts also contain caprylic acid, which has a similar effect. Studies show that coconut oil doubles the body’s absorption of Omega-3 fatty acids. Therefore, in addition to coconut oil, it is worth consuming other oils that contain Omega-3 acids (for example, linseed oil).
Coconut oil contains natural antioxidants that fight free radicals, slow down the aging process and make the skin supple and elastic. This oil is used as a cure for Crohn’s disease (ulcerative colitis) and type II diabetes.
Coconut oil is also the first fat that does not favor the formation of fat in the body. On the contrary, it stimulates the metabolism and favors weight loss in case of overweight.
The coconut in the kitchen
It is used in the kitchen, such as food, such as medicine and for external use such as capillary mask, body oil or ointment for various types of skin alterations. It favors wound healing, prevents skin spots, relieves skin diseases, delays aging and wrinkles, hydrates and softens the skin.
Coconut oil also stimulates thyroid function. In the presence of thyroid hormone, cholesterol becomes progesterone, DHEA and pregnanolone, among others. These substances help prevent heart disease, obesity, cancer and other diseases.
Interesting use of coconut
1. Tuba or coconut wine. To make drinks, a sweet liquid (15% sugar) is used that secrete the slices of the young inflorescences of the cocotero. With this liquid, syrup and sugar occur, as well as fermented coconut wine, called Tuba, which after distillation and refined produces arak, a high percentage alcoholic beverage.
2. Palm outbreaks. This is the name of the apical leaves of the palm tree, which eat raws or after boiling them or getting them. 3. Coconut mutations. The mutant fruit, called Macapuno, is also harvested in the Philippines. The macapuno is a mutant fruit of the coconut that has a softer and more white pulp and a velvety flavor. It is sweeter and is ideal for frozen desserts. You eat avidly and without additives. 4. Millionaire coconut salad. The upper outbreak of the palm tree, called a nucleus (a bright, almost white sprout, 30-40 cm long), is a rare delicacy. Unfortunately, once the bud is cut, the plant dies. Palmites are eaten in salads; This salad is sometimes called “Millionaire salad”, probably because of the rarity of the ingredients.
Coconut roots
5. Coconut roots have dyeing properties, so they are used to dye fabrics, for example. They are also used in the manufacture of mouth rinses and, for the poor, the heading root replaces the toothbrush. 6. Coconut fiber. Coconut fiber, called Coco, is used to manufacture various domestic items (mats, brushes, strings) and decorative (materials, lamps, paper). The fiber can be compressed and then dye, which achieves unusual decorative effects. The same fiber is also used as a substrate for plant cultivation, a substitute for mob. 7. 7. palm leaves. Long palm leaves are used in many ways. With them baskets, mats, hammocks and hats are woven. Palm leaves are widely used in the construction of walls, roofs and fences. 8. Palmeras forest. As the palm does not have branches, all the wood comes from the trunk. Palm has become an excellent alternative to traditional tree species and is used both in construction and furniture manufacturing. With hollow trunks, drums, diverse containers and even small canoes can be manufactured. 9. Coconut peels. Coconut peels are an excellent fuel and, once crushed, are used to make plastic. With the shells are manufactured dishes, cutlery and containers to store food, as well as many decorative items. The halves of coconut shells are used in the Philippines to polish the ground and are called Bunots. With the coconut shells, various musical instruments are manufactured: when they hit them with each other, they produce a deceptively similar sound to that of a horse’s helmets. 10. Fuel. Filipino researchers have developed an ecological car that works with coconut fuel.
