Having lived in Hawaii for years and eaten many a coconut, I learned a lot more about the ‘nut of life’ in Raratonga, Cook Islands.
The saying goes, if one takes care of a coconut tree for 6-7 years it will take care of you for the rest of your life. Island inhabitants waste nothing. The tree trunk, the coconut, fiber, leaves, nut shell, meat and milk are all used.
There are six stages of life for a coconut. The milk is sweetest in the third stage. The coconut fiber is easiest to remove in the fourth stage, when it can be pulled and twisted into rope. The coconut falls from the tree during the fourth stage. The nuts ripen at different times, so they don’t all fall at once. Natives know better than to sit under a coconut tree!
The nut sprouts sending out roots to grow another tree in the sixth and final stage. This is when the meat turns mushy becoming a treat for island youngsters who liken it to marshmallow. Coconut trees require little care to grow, but take 6-7 years to produce fruit.
The tree trunk is used for posts, stools, drums, storage containers, and even dugout canoes. The bark provides firewood. Small chunks of bark are dried and when burned act as nature’s natural mosquito repellent.
The fiber growing at the base of the leaves is used for clothing, loin cloths, and decoration on dancing skirts. When painted with various designs it becomes a wall decoration or hanging. The fiber is also used to strain coconut milk from the meat. Tree roots are used to make fish traps, usually for eels.
Palm fronds are woven into dishes, platters, sleeping mats, window coverings, fans, hats, and decorations. Polished coconut shells become bowls. Dancers use polished half shells as bras when dancing. Until the late 1950s many buttons were made from coconut shells. Jewelry, earrings, and toys are fashioned from the shell.
Coconut milk is used in cooking, cosmetics, and lotions. It is truly a tree of life for islanders!
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