How to extract coconut water and crack a coconut
Using a hammer and a Phillips-head screwdriver, punch holes in the three eyes of the coconut and drain the coconut water into a bowl or jar. Then tap the hammer around the circumference of the coconut until a hairline crack appears. Keep tapping and the shell will crack in half, allowing you to extract the coconut meat.
Palm Beach County cooperative extension agents are available to answer questions from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. Monday through Friday. Call 233-1750.
By Lona O'Connor
If you own a coconut tree, you have the source of an endless supply of coconut water, the health food world’s latest craze for hydration. All you need is a screwdriver and a hammer and …
Wait. Before you can feel comfortable drinking homegrown coconut water, you need to know more about your coconut palm.
If your tree is healthy and free of pesticides, you are good to go. But if you don’t know what treatments it might have received, you need to do your homework, and it could be up to a year after treatment before your coconuts are safe to eat.
“Most homeowners know what’s being applied to their plants,” said Deborah Levulis, a member of the extension faculty, Environmental Horticulture UF/IFAS Extension Palm Beach County. “Most people have an interest in what’s being sprayed.”
If you don’t know, start by reading the fine print on that sack of pesticide in your garage. Pesticides for edible plants have clear instructions for how long after treatment the fruits and vegetables are safe to eat. If someone else is maintaining your landscape, ask what he or she is using to keep bugs away.
For example, are landscapers using a leaf spray to eliminate whiteflies?
Since about 2009, coconut, gumbo limbo, live oak and other trees in South Florida have been visited by rugose spiraling whitefly, which originated in Central America.
The whitefly lays its eggs in spiral patterns on the underside of leaves. When the young hatch, they feed on the nutrients in the leaves, causing wilting, yellowing and even plant death.
The leaves will be covered by what looks like a chalky white dust. Certain wasps, mites and ladybugs are natural predators of the whitefly, but they take a while — months or years — to reduce its numbers, according to the University of Florida Institute of Food and Agricultural Services.
There are some products considered natural remedies for the whitefly, including oils that suffocate the insects. A horticultural oil or soap is sprayed onto the surface of the plant, so a hard spray of water will remove its residue. Unfortunately, some leaf sprays also kill the whitefly’s predators.
Other pesticides deserve an even closer look, particularly systemic insecticides. Systemic pesticides are taken into the roots of the plant along with water and distributed to all the tissues of the tree, including the edible parts.
“The label, required by law on all pesticides, would say that coconuts or tropical fruits are allowed to be sprayed,” said Levulis. “There are always restrictions. For a systemic product, it’s usually about a year before you can eat the coconuts.”
As for eating coconuts from somebody else’s yard, once again, if you don’t know what a coconut has been treated with, don’t eat it.
“Around the lake in Juno Beach, they injected antibiotics (into coconut trees) to prevent lethal yellowing,” said Levulis. “I would never eat the coconuts from those.”
Despite her cautions, Levulis is a coconut fan: “The coconut water is so good for you. It’s a great fruit as long as you know where it’s coming from.”
According to IFAS and the U.S. Department of Agriculture, coconut and its components contain small amounts of protein, carbohydrate, fat and trace minerals.
Coconut oil is a saturated fat that lends a pleasant, nutty taste when used in cooking.
“I cook with coconut oil sometimes, but not every day,” said Levulis’ colleague, Ada Medina-Solorzano.
Medina-Solorzano drinks the coconut water from her own backyard trees. It rarely lasts too long in her house, but if you have extra, she recommends freezing it in ice cube trays for later use.
The most coconut water comes from a green coconut, said Medina-Solorzano, who teaches nutrition, cooking and food safety for the Palm Beach County Extension Service. Later, most of the liquid is absorbed into the white flaky meat of the coconut.
As with all fad foods, moderation is the key, said Medina-Solorzano. “For hydration, nothing can beat just plain water, but coconut water is nice to drink once in a while, to replenish some of the nutrients. People are always asking me about ‘superfoods,’ but there is no one food that is going to cure you. It’s the combination of nutrients in different foods.”
Lona O’Connor has a lifelong interest in health and healthy living. Send column ideas to Lona13@bellsouth.net.
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