Coconuts, Again!

Marzo 23

Coconuts, Again!

I’ve been buying whole coconuts in order to drain them of their preciosa agua, elixir of the goddess, tesora according to Yasna , a treasure. At the risk of repeating myself, agua de coco was used to replace plasma in WWII when they ran out ; its compositional properties are similar to mother’s milk

Coconut oil is about 50% lauric acid, and the only other abundant source found in nature is in human breast milk. The value of lauric acid has been widely studied and has shown multiple health benefits. The medium-chain fats in coconut oil are similar to fats in mother's milk and have similar nutriceutical effects. http://www.cocotherapy.com/faq_cocotherapy.htm

and if you’re reading this you might know it’s also saved me many a time with its almost instantaneous healing effect when I’m most in need.

 In the 90’s I  lived on Molokai, the smallest Hawaiian island, trying to recover from what is now called “systemic exertion intolerance disease,” http://well.blogs.nytimes.com/2015/02/10/chronic-fatigue-syndrome-gets-a-new-name/?_r=0. When I ran out of funds that were keeping me in a low rent condo with an ugly green shag carpet, I moved into the home of a native Hawaiian couple  from Oahu in exchange for driving them around when they visited Molokai (I had enough to keep my rental car .) The primitive house – no electricity, gas lanterns at nite, on demand shared shower outside- was next to a heiau and an orchard of banana and coconut palms. In my extremely weakened state I would swing a broom back and forth to knock   a coconut out of the tree and  inexpertly wield my machete to get it open. I drank  from these voraciously  several times a day whenever I could manage the whole operation and was able to  keep myself from being bed-ridden most of the time.

I think I’m mostly free now of this newly renamed disease  but  now I’m drinking 2-3 coconut’s worth a day to keep my blood pressure symptoms away. Yesterday I bought six from Gil’s tienda across the street. Sometimes I buy the aqua from a corner stand or del Mercado which I prefer because I don’t eat the meat from the coconut and end up throwing them away which seems in addition to wasteful sacriligeous.  However ,  sometimes  the stands are closed or out of cocos and when I need it I really need it. What to do with the coconuts !  Yasna told me how to make coconut milk and coconut flour  which I spent one whole Saturday doing. Very labor intensive!  First, I hacked at the hard shell with my dull cleaver  and then spent too long trying to extract the meat with a small also not very sharp knife lacerating a few fingers in the process.  Finally put all the cleavered pieces of coconut meat in the blender with a little water. Squeeze out every drop you can wring from the meat and Voila: Coconut milk just like you buy in a can. (I have since learned  a few tricks to make the process go easier if I ever do it again). Now that I have milk, I put the residue coconut meat out in the sun to dry for a few days and  then put that in the blender to make coconut flour. Well, kind of- my blender only has three settings, not really fine enough but I attempt coconut flour crepes anyway with coconut milk, coconut oil and eggs-my friend Dave happens to drop by just in time for some spread with mango sauce- his verdict: “ they taste like a coconut omelet.”

The next day I propose to Gil at the tienda, that I return the empty shells so he can chop up the meat and sell it. Maybe he’ll give me a discount next time. At least they’re not going to waste.