ABSTRACT

This chapter provides information on the uses, folk medicine, chemistry, germplasm, distribution, ecology, cultivation, harvesting, yields, energy, and biotic factors of Coconut. Coconut is one of the ten most useful trees in the world, providing food for millions of people, especially in the tropics. At any one time a coconut palm may have 12 different crops of nuts on it, from opening flower to ripe nut. Nutmeat of immature coconuts is like a custard in flavor and consistency, and is eaten or scraped and squeezed through cloth to yield a "cream" or "milk" used on various foods. In India, the Hindus make a vegetarian butter called "ghee" from coconut oil; also used in infant formulas. Coconut roots provide a dye, a mouthwash, a medicine for dysentery, and frayed out, it makes toothbrushes; scorched, it is used as coffee substitute.