Coconut Farm

After a late breakfast out in Lahaina at the Aloha Mixed Plate, the three of us began our afternoon tour of a working coconut farm, Punakea Palms (https://www.punakeapalms.com/) just out of Lahaina.  I never realized how complicated the life stage of a coconut is!  The tour is fabulous and I recommend it for anyone visiting the island, as you end up with a quart of your own personally squeezed fresh coconut milk to take away (one quart per small group--Helen squeezed ours).

Coconuts are a member of the grass family, and their root structure is very shallow, almost surficial.  Each foot of coconut tree eight roughly approximates to a year of age,  and they begin bearing after a few years;.  The grove we visited was 13 years old, and while the trunk was 13 feet or so, the palm fronds and coconuts arch into the air above the stalk.  The coconut trees use lots of water (readily available) including salt water. There are irrigated with abundant volcanic spring water, but every month are dosed with sea water. 

The first useful edible stage of the nut, when the coconut wrapping is quite green and the water is easily sloshed inside, is the earliest and least "coconut" taste--the water is sterile inside the nut, and has been used medicinally in tough times for re-hydrating patients intravenously as its electrolyte suite is enriched and balanced.   He used a punch tool to push through the soft shell into the center of the nut and juice, and gave each of us a straw to drink from our coconut.

A month or so later, the nut has ripened into he youngest edible stage of coconut flesh--known as "soda" for the faint effervescence or "poppers" have become ta trendy new drink here in Hawaii, as the solution tastes a bit coconut, is slightly sweet, and very refreshing.  Our tour guide, Bennie, said he helped refresh a fainting lady on his tour with a few sips of the juice, and she felt quite herself again afterwards.  

The next stage, meat has formed within the shell, and the juice is sweeter.  Doe to the meat formation, pressure is exerted ion the fluid, creating a gentle effervescence when opened, and soft hiss when first released. The meat is very tender, coconut flavored (but not strong) and the voice is flavorful.

The last stage takes a bit more effort to open the nut--using a pry bar like tool to first pierce then spread apart the exterior shell.  Lastly, the hairy exterior of the nut is cleared away and the nut itself must be cracked, and the meat easily popped out with the coconut tool, which isn't even sharp.   The meat is tasty like coconut, but the main goal for us was pressing the "milk and cream" out of the coconut meat.  First it was placed in a blender, without any coconut juice.  Then water was added to equal the meat content, and blended.  The resultant slurry was passed through a coconut bag (easily could use cheesecloth) and the milky fluid squeezed out  One coconut provided a quart and little extra of milk.  

Here is a picture of a sprouting coconut, that would just seat itself where it landed and try to grow into a tree.