Loco over Coco: Cooking with the "fruit of life"
Know what the “fruit of life” is and the “tree from which is springs”? None other than the stately COCONUT TREE.
What’s up with the coconut? It just happens to be one of the most versatile tree in the world – you can use every part of the plant –
- The coconut leaves can be woven into mats, bowls and the walls of a nipa hut.
- The leaf spines are great as sweepers and brooms (walis ting-ting).
- The coconut trunk is cut into wood and becomes one of the toughest hardwood flooring.
- The coconut fruit has even more uses. The husk is used to shine floors (bunot).
- The shell (bao) is used as containers, piggy banks and many others.
- The flower or spathe (ubod) has a sweet nectar that when fermented becomes an alcoholic beverage (lambanog) that only the toughest men (or women) can drink without getting drunk.
- The meat is for eating and cooking with.
Now, I don’t want to spoil everything because there are probably a hundred more uses to the coconut tree and the fruit. And this month of February, Lasang Pinoy celebrated its 24th edition by inviting others to blog about the COCONUT. The carnival ends today, so you still have a few hours to participate. A round-up will be posted next week.
Hop over to Kai of Bucaio for the specifics. Oh, and I see Maricar posted her recipe of maja blanca yesterday. Good going, sis!
2 Comments
Thanks for joining, Grace! It really is the tree of life!
[...] month we wrote several articles on The Tree of Life – the coconut, with its variety of uses – from food to building materials to containers and [...]