difference between coconuts

[tony]

Would anyone be able to describe to me the difference between un coco de agua and a regular coconut? I have had both and was under the impression that they were different. But is it that the big green coconuts filled with water are only not fully formed regular coconuts?

 

[Susanne]

As far as I can tell, the green coconut is a regular coconut at a stage where it is beyond being a "coco verde" - which is totally unripe - and being the brown thing we normally associate coconuts with.

It is said that during the World War II, military doctors in the tropical countries discovered they could successfully coconut water from the green coconut when sterile drips were unavailable for patients.

Coco de mer - sea coconut - is a different story altogether. These huge coconuts are found almost exclusively on the Seychelles and have become a symbol of the islands.

Regards, Susanne

 

[Mike]

Dominicans use the expression Coco de Agua to describe coconuts that are full of juice. Many of the older coconuts lose thier liquid as they dry out. To answer your question there is really no difference between a regular coconut and a Coco de Agua besides the age of the nut. Though there are two types of coconut trees that I've seen in the DR. One grows shorter than another.

The Coco de Mer (the sea coconut) that Susanne mentioned is actually the largest nut in the world. It looks like a double coconut stuck together and has been descibed as having the appearance of a ladies But. If anyone knows of a Coco de Mer tree in the DR then please inform me as I would love to get my hands on a seed. They take a year to germinate!

 

[tony]

thankyou Susanne and Mike,

then the brown coconuts with white meat which have been husked of their fibrous green shell are the ripe ones, and the ones full of water that can be cracked and drank straight from what will eventually be the husk are the unripe ones?

Susanne: great stuff about WWII. but I am not sure I get the right picture, perhaps because I am not sure what a sterile drip is. How exactly did the military doctors use the coconut juice?

That sea coconut sounds great!

 

[Susanne]

Dear Tony,

Yes - you got it right, same kind of nut, but different age. About WWII - a sterile drip is the see-through plastic bag with a nourishing liquid that doctors or nurses will then connect to your body (normally your hand) when you can't eat. So if the WWII thing is correct, they used coconut water instead of the usual sterile (bacteria free) solution to feed directly into the patients' blood. It is certainly nourishing enough, and in some countries the coconut is the main source of nutrition - much like rice is in other countries. It can be main ingredient in a multitude of recipes and depending on how you treat it, you would never know it all came from the same plant.

Regards, Susanne