kalpa vriksha - the tree which provides all the necessities of life - pokok seribu guna - the tree of a thousand uses

Coconut Trees

The husk.

The nut.

The shell.

The fibers.

The leaves.

The fruit.

The milk.

The water.

Last week Pauler's best friend bought us a coconut, among a million other things.

I had/have no idea what to do with a whole coconut and so, you can guess what I did...

I googled it.  I love the internet. Most of the time.

and you'll never guess what I found out. Or maybe...you will.  Because maybe I am just now jumping on the Coconut-is-like-the-coolest-most-useful-plant-fruit-tree-thing Bandwagon and you have been on it the whole time.

Either way, I am enlightened.

Did you know the water (commonly mistaken for coconut milk) inside the nut is sterile until opened and can be mixed with blood?  In WWII they used coconut water for emergency blood transfusions all the time.

Also, in India they use the shells to make buttons and as bowls.  I was thinking... if you want some awesome authentic weirdo bowls just go buy like four or five coconuts that way you get coconut water, flesh (which can be eaten raw, dried, flaked or turned into coconut milk, or get the oil out of it somehow), and a new set of bowls (with some careful cutting and polishing ... hacksaw anyone?) for considerably cheaper than you could ever buy a bunch of deep cut soup/cereal bowls.  Not to mention a million times more useful.

Coconuts might just be my new favorite food in the world.

But...we still have no way of getting it open.

and hacksaws cost anywhere from $10-$20.

That's not too bad, I guess.