COCO FACTS

The Tree of Life

Providing shade for sunbathers is a very recent development in the coconut’s evolution. For several millennia it was a vital source of food and materials on which many societies based their entire existence. In fact the Sanskrit name for the coconut palm is kalpa vriksha, meaning "tree which gives all that is necessary for living.”

A large coconut can contain as much as a litre of coconut water - used as a thirst-quencher, a cooking ingredient and a component of medicines for thousands of years. Now Cocofina is using a special extraction and natural preservation method to make sure that the coconut water on the shelves of your local store is as fresh, sweet and healthy as it was when it came out of the shell.

The coconut provides not only coconut water but also flesh which can be eaten fresh or dried to form copra, the basis for coconut oil which was widely used from the early 19th century to the mid 20th Century for soap manufacture and cooking. A fibrous substance called coir extracted from the husk is the basis for making many implements such as brushes, mats, fishnets, and rope. The sap of the palm is a vitamin-rich drink or, fermented, a potent toddy and of course the wood and leaves can be used for building materials.

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