Cocos nucifera

The coconut palm, Cocos nucifera, has been domesticated for thousands of years by humans primarily because of the edible meat and versatile oil extracted from its large seeds. Other parts of the coconut palm are edible, too, such as the palm-heart, and the sap and nectar of the flowers, but these products are rarely seen outside of the localities of cultivation due to perishability.

The fluid inside coconuts is not, as popularly thought, coconut “milk.” Technically speaking, the fluid, colloquially and commercially termed “coconut water,” within young coconuts is a suspension for the seed’s developing endosperm during the endosperm’s nuclear development phase, which eventually forms the fleshy rind as the endosperm enters its cellular phase. “Coconut milk,” by contrast, is extracted from pressing either the grated fresh coconut flesh, or dried and then reconstituted grated coconut flesh.

In South Asian cuisines, the meat, milk and oil of coconut are important ingredients in numerous dishes. In particular, the milk is used in many Indian and Southeast Asian curries. In Chinese and Western cuisines, coconut meat and milk are used primarily as dessert ingredients, especially after being squeezed of oil, then cooked and processed with large amounts of sugar. Such overprocessing inevitably neutralizes most of coconut’s therapeutic properties.

Coconut is utilized in Western nutrition as a source of “good” cholesterol, and to help combat Type 2 diabetes. In Chinese Herbology, coconut is used to combat yin deficiency caused by internal dryness. Despite this ability, coconut also functions as a diuretic. Coconut can also be used to calm worms, especially in children or patients with weak constitutions that would otherwise be harmed by stronger or harsher helminthicides (such as the toxic Shi Jun Zi, or seed of the Rangoon Creeper, Combretum indicum (synonym = “Quisqualis indica”), or Bing Lan, or Betel nut). In particular, coconut milk can be cooked with garlic and pumpkin seed in order to enhance all three foodstuffs’ worm-purging properties.

Other parts of the coconut tree have medicinal properties, as well: fresh coconut milk or water directly from the fruit can be used as an emergency hydration fluid if delivered intravenously: so long as the fruit is not breached, its nutrient-rich fluid remains sterile. The husk can be brewed to make an anti-inflammatory tea, as well.