My Coconut Addiction

by Caz Makepeace on January 31, 2013

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Coconut is the new rage.

You can’t pick up a health or en vogue magazine without finding a double page spread on the health and well-being properties of this fruit, I mean nut, I mean seed.

Are you just as confused as me?

After Googling it, I discovered a coconut can fit under all these definitions, but its true label is that of a

one seeded drupe.

The elixir of life

What I prefer is the Pacific Islanders name for the palm tree that births it:

The Tree of Life, called so for its abilities to heal many illnesses.

Not only that, coconuts are excellent for building immunity and killing harmful bacteria, they are a nutritious source of fibre, vitamins, minerals and amino acids.

Its oil is also great for slowing down the aging process.

I am slowly forming a healthy addiction to it.

It began a few weeks ago after yet another article touting it as the eighth wonder of the world. Coconut water began finding its way into my shopping trolley and coconut oil now sits proudly in my cupboard and is often used for cooking.

You should taste the way it enhances the flavour of food.

My recent visit to Thailand did nothing but further inflame this addiction.

I thought sipping it out of a tetra pack carton was cool.

Hmm, in Thailand you can buy the whole young coconut for about $1 and drink the nectar straight from its cracked top. You even get a spoon to dig out the jelly like flesh for a snack after.

Heaven

The water from the young coconuts trounces the supermarket carton flavours–creamy, refreshing and full of re-hydrating electrolytes

I want to grow a coconut palm tree in my backyard.

Now I know the power of coconut, I no longer worry about consuming bowls of Thai curry—it’s made from coconut milk, not the fattening product you once thought. It’s full of creamy and delicious fats—give me more Thai curry please.

Thai green curry

And deserts made from coconut milk, I can have more and more.

Mango and sticky rice with coconut milk, bananas in coconut milk, weird green pandan noodles in coconut milk, the list of Thai sweets made with coconut milk goes on.

Coconut ice cream

My favourite -mango with sticky rice

On this trip, I even learned how coconut milk was made and then had the pleasure of squeezing the old coconut meat with water to make it.

I saw how coconut oil was made—simply boiling the coconut milk until it turns to oil. And guess what the by-product of this is?

Coconut chocolate

Making coconut oil

Yes for real, I tried it. It’s sweet like chocolate, but has no sugar. It is just the residue from the boiling of the coconut milk. Do not waste a bit of this precious one seeded drupe!

You can put a couple of drops of coconut oil in your hair, wash it 30 mins later and it will be silky and shiny like all the beautiful Thai women who walk past.

You can rub the oil on your body to keep you young and slow down the aging process.

After cooking with the oil now I wipe the residue off the spoon and rub it over my body. It’s delicious and envelopes me in a coco-nutty perfume.

And don’t forget coconut cocktails!

Pina colada

I am so in love with coconuts and getting more addicted by the day. I don’t know what to do when I return back to Oz and can no longer sip on my $1 young coconut water.

Is there anything this wonder from nature can’t do?