Many people like exotic fruits. After all, one wants to feast on something else, except an apple, a pear and grapes. One of the favorite overseas cultures is coconut. As you know, the forbidden fruit is sweet. This happens with coconut. Although not forbidden, but impregnable, it is incredibly difficult to open it. Therefore, they want to enjoy it even more than, say, pineapple. In addition, this nut is incredibly useful. Everything is valuable in it: pulp, milk, and even fiber. There is practically no waste from coconut drupes. This is a truly wonderful plant that deserves to be enjoyed.
Coconut as a plant
Coconut is a fruit belonging to the palm plant family. A crop grows on a slender tall palm tree with dense, smooth and long leaves. Coconut palm brings rounded fruits up to 30 centimeters long and weighing from one and a half to two and a half kilograms. A hard shell with hard fibers covers the nut on top. Inside the drupe is a delicate pulp of white color, as well as coconut water, which has a sweet taste. The fruit can ripen for about ten months. When the nut takes on a brown color, it means that it is ripe and can be plucked. If the shell of the fetus has a green tint, then it has not yet matured and it is better not to remove it from the palm tree.
The walnut shell is so hard that even while transporting the product across the ocean, it is not susceptible to damage. He even after travel is able to germinate in new places.
Since coconut palm loves the sandy soil of the sea coasts, it can be found in abundance in India, the Philippines, Thailand, Indonesia, Sri Lanka and other countries where the tropical climate prevails.
What is in Coconut
The composition of coconut is extremely diverse. It has many B vitamins (B1-B3, B5, B6 and B9). Minerals such as calcium and potassium are also present in it. In addition, the composition of the fetus contains water, fats, proteins, carbohydrates and fiber. In small amounts, drupe is enriched with vitamins H, E, and C, and minerals such as manganese, magnesium, copper, iron, sodium, and others.
Coconut has a very high calorie content of 362 calories for every hundred grams of the product. But one should not refuse to consume the fetus because of this. You just need to eat it not often and in limited portions.
Properties of an exotic fruit
For the human body, the properties of coconut are simply invaluable. In those countries where the fruit grows, it is considered a real gift from the gods. In all Indian hospitals, for seriously ill patients, coconut water is prescribed as a restorative and restorative agent. Coconut helps regulate the functioning of almost all metabolic processes. It promotes the synthesis of amino acids and normalizes the state of nerve tissues. Plant fiber found in drupes has a beneficial effect on the functioning of the gastrointestinal tract.
Coconut contains a certain amount of lauric acid, which inhibits the reproduction of various pathogenic organisms and gives the product antimicrobial qualities. Coconut water perfectly regulates the pressure and removes cholesterol from the vessels. It can be used to reduce heat, and to maintain salt balance. Juice dissolves stones and treats kidney diseases.
Benefit plus harm
Coconut , the benefits and harms of which are described in this article, is used to treat many ailments. But he also has many contraindications. But about everything in turn. Fresh pulp of the fetus improves digestion, replenishes the lack of energy, improves eyesight, strengthens the heart and prevents the development of tumors. Fragrant and sweet nut milk perfectly tones and refreshes the skin. Coconut water is especially useful for aging and sluggish skin. And teenagers with the help of this juice can defeat acne.
But despite all its advantages, the fruits of a coconut palm can be harmful. There are few contraindications for the use of drupes, but they still exist. And first of all, it is necessary to note individual intolerance and allergy to the product. Overweight people are not recommended to eat coconut because of its high calorie content. Since the fetus has a laxative effect, it is better to abandon it if pestering diarrhea. Hyperthyroidism is also a contraindication to the use of exotic goodies.
Application in culinary art
Due to the fact that coconut has a stunningly pleasant smell and taste, it has found its wide application in the culinary business. As a rule, the pulp of the fruit is used, which is dried, making flakes from it, or rubbed on a grater.
The product is in perfect harmony with various meat dishes, providing them a spicy flavor. That is why milk and drupe pulp itself are incredibly popular ingredients in the gastronomy of East Asia. There they are added to both main dishes and soups.
But the nut is most in demand for the preparation of sweet dishes and desserts. It is added to creams and pastries, and also mixed with sweet cereals and cottage cheese.
Open the fruit
Most readers are probably interested in the question of how to open a coconut at home. After all, this is not a simple matter at all and requires extraordinary efforts. If you have a screwdriver in your house, then the procedure will be quite easy and you will not damage the drupe pulp. If you want to get two identical halves of a nut, then you need to precisely drill holes at a distance of two to three centimeters from each other exactly along the "equator" line. If it is necessary to get halves with sharp edges, then the same holes need to be drilled in a checkerboard pattern along the "equator". After the holes are made, you should chop the coconut, and with the help of a kitchen knife, finally open it.
You can open the drupe with an ordinary knife with a heavy handle. On the "equator" of the fetus with the tip of the instrument you need to make deep nicks. Then, at these marks, you should cut the shell. If the procedure is unsuccessful, it is recommended to plant a coconut. But it is important to do this so that the impact when falling falls on the place where the sawing was carried out.
Tales of people about a delicious fruit
Coconut reviews get different. It belongs to those products that either like from the first “bite” or not. Therefore, people who liked him say that his taste is truly heavenly pleasure. Those who did not take the fetus note the hardness of its pulp and the incomprehensible taste of milk. But here all consumers speak positively about the cosmetic benefits of drupes, claiming that it acts on the skin in the most miraculous way.