On Coconuts.

January 28

Francis Drake may not have been responsible for bringing the potato to England, but he did have some interesting food experiences. On this day in 1578 in the Cape Verde islands he was in search of provisions, and came across the coconut.

“Yet the next day (28th) our General sent to view the island [Mayo, Cape Verde], and the likelihoods that might be there of provision of victuals, … Amongst other things we found here a kind of fruit called cocos, which because it is the fruit groweth in clusters, hard at the top of the stem of the tree, as big every several fruit as a man's head; but having taken off the uttermost bark, which you shall find to be very full of strings or sinews, as I may term them, you shall come to a hard shell, which may hold in quantity of liquor a pint commonly, or some a quart, and some less. Within that shell, of the thickness of half-an-inch good, you shall have a kind of hard substance and very white, no less good and sweet than almonds; within that again, a certain clear liquor, which being drunk, you shall not only find it very delicate and sweet, but most comfortable and cordial.”

The name ‘coconut’ is a puzzle, and the OED almost gives up on it, eventually seeming to agree with the opinion that it comes from a Spanish or Portuguese word indicating a grin or grimacing expression – referencing the appearance produced by the three ‘holes’ at the base. One of the OED’s own supporting quotations however (from 1555) suggests that it may have been an ‘Indian’ word for the cry of a monkey, as the holes ‘doo represent the gesture and fygure of the cattes cauled Mammone, that is munkeys, when they crye: which crye the Indians caule coca.’ The credibility of this writer is somewhat in doubt as he says there are four holes in the coconut shell (‘there are seene two holes, and aboue them two other naturall holes’), whereas most of us can only identify three – so perhaps the expert had never seen one himself.

That the coconut is an incredibly useful tree and fruit has never been in doubt. One Polynesian wanderer in the 1840’s summed up its usefulness by quoting:

‘The Indian’s nut alone,
Is clothing, meat,and trencher, drink and can,
Boat, cable, sail, and needle – all in one.’

It seems to me that there is too much dried, sweetened (for Goodness’ Sake!), packaged, dessicated coconut in the world. Coconuts with their hard shells don’t have the packing and transport problems of soft and rapidly ripening fruit like the banana for example, but of course the problem for those of us without a single machete in the kitchen is how to extract and shred the flesh. I understand that there are special gadgets that will do this, but I do not have one. Do they work? If they do, I will try recipes such as the following, taken from The Indian Cookery Book, published By Thacker, Spink & Co., Calcutta, circa 1900.

Cocoanut Rice Pudding
Soak a breakfastcupful of fine rice in water until quite soft; scoop out the contents of a hard cocoanut; extract all the milk with a little boiling-hot water, then boil the rice in it, sweeten it to taste with some date jagree or treacle, and put in a few grains of aniseed. Pour the mixture into a buttered pudding-dish and bake it slightly.

Cocoanut Pittas
Scrape finely a cocoanut, brown it with some jagree and a few grains of the black cardamom seed, and set it aside; then prepare a pastry of finely-sifted rice-flour (it must be kneaded with boiling-hot water, and will not roll out); take as much as the size of a duck's egg, and press it out flat in the palm of your hand to the size of a large saucer; put a tablespoonful of the fried cocoanut into it, and close it up in a half-moon shape, with the help of a little water. Have a wide-mouthed large earthen pot of boiling water; stretch and tie over its mouth a napkin, and steam the pittas or cakes over them; they will be ready in half an hour, and may be eaten hot or cold.

Cocoanut Cheesecakes
Grate a good-sized nut very fine, and add to it four or five spoonfuls of rich syrup and one spoonful of rose-water; set it over a few coals, and keep stirring till it is mixed; then take it off the fire and let it cool; next mix the yolks of two eggs well with it, and bake in small paps in the shape of cheesecakes. The pastry for the pans must be made with flour and yokes of eggs, rolled as thin as possible; wet the tops of the cakes with rose-water; sift some refined sugar over them, and bake them in an oven at a gentle heat.

Tomorrow’s Story …

Diet Gurus.

Quotation for the Day …

One of these nuts is a meal for a man, both meat and drink [on coconuts]. Marco Polo.

Nails for Coconuts.

Today, May 9th …

We are voyaging with Joseph Banks aboard the Endeavour again today. In May 1769 the ship was lying at anchor at ‘King George’s Island’, and Banks made a new discovery on this day:

“We have now got the Indian name of the Island, Otahite, so therefore for the future I shall call it.”

We left Banks a few days ago purchasing breadfruit. On this day, still ‘in distress for nescessaries’, he was negotiating for that other South Sea staple – coconuts.

“Cocoa nuts have been for some days rather scarce, we are therefore obligd for the first time to bring out our nails. Last night our smallest size about 4 inches long were offerd for 20 Cocoa nutts, accordingly this morn several came with that number so that we had plenty of them. Smaller lots as well as bread fruit sold as usual for beads. Soon after breakfast Came Oborea, Obadee and Tupia bringing a hog and some breadfruit; they stayd with us till night then took away their canoe and promisd to return in 3 days. We had to day 350 Cocoa nuts and more bread fruit than we would buy so that we aproach our former plenty.”

The word ‘coconut’ comes from the Spanish and Portuguese coco, referring to the grin or grimace suggested by the three holes at the base of the shell. Perhaps the early Europeans who ‘discovered’ it did not immediately appreciate its value or they may have given it a more serious name. The late Alan Davidson said of it that it is “the fruit of Cocos nucifera, the most useful tree in the world. It provides not only food and drink, but also vessels to serve them in and fuel to cook them, as well as textile fibre, thatching and basket materials, timber, medicines, chemicals, and many other valuable or useful products.’

As far as food goes, the coconut tree provides a number of completely different products. Coconut juice is the ‘water’ inside the shell, available as a refreshing drink without any further ado (so long as you have a machete), and which is not to be confused with coconut milk and cream (made by infusing and pounding the flesh in water). There is also coconut oil, coconut sugar (syrup and ‘honey’), a version of the alcoholic drink ‘toddy’, and of course the hard white flesh itself.

Dried and dessicated coconut is what we often reach for when we see a recipe containing coconut – it is often too much trouble, even if the whole coconuts are available, to chip and chop out the flesh from the shell. I don’t know when these products became widely available, but in many instances they are an abomination compared with the real thing. Often they are ‘sweetened’ – as if coconut was not already sweet enough! and with a list of additives that are so scary they have to be disguised with code numbers.

We can learn a thing or two from our Victorian ancestors. They used the real thing when it came to coconut. I know, I know - they had kitchen hacks to do the hard hacking, and if the dried sweetened additive-laden version had been available they would surely have used it …. Nevertheless these recipes are very worthy. Who said Victorian food was stodgy and unimaginative?

Cream Cocoa Nut Pudding
Grate a large cocoa nut fine. Stir together a quarter of a pound of butter, and a quarter of a pound of loaf sugar till quite light. Beat six eggs and mix them gradually with one pint of cream, or cream and milk mixed together; stir all together well. Put the mixture into a dish and bake it. Serve hot or cold with sifted sugar: this pudding may be baked in puff paste.
[The English cookery book, receipts collected by a committee of ladies, and ed. by J. H. Walsh 1859]

Cocoa-nut Macaroons.
Take a fresh cocoa-nut, grate it finely, and allow half a found of finely-sifted sugar and the whites of four eggs beaten to a firm froth to every quarter of a pound of cocoa-nut. Mix the ingredients thoroughly. Drop little balls of the paste upon a well-battered tin about two inches apart from one another. Bake in a moderate oven. When the macaroons are lightly browned all over they will be ready.
[Cassell’s Dictionary of Cookery, c1870]

Cocoa-Nut Soup.
Grate very finely the white of a fresh cocoa-nut, and simmer it gently for an hour in some good stock, allowing a quarter of a pound of cocoa-nut for every half gallon of stock. Strain the liquid, and thicken it with some ground rice; half a pound of ground rice will be enough for this quantity. Season it with a little salt and cayenne, and a small tea-spoonful of mace. Just before serving, draw it from the fire, and add a cupful of thick cream.
[Cassell’s Dictionary of Cookery, c1870]

Methinks this soup might be a worthy partner to the chocolate soup featured in a previous story. Perhaps both, poured artistically into the bowl together. Chocolate-Coconut Soup! Now there’s a cutting-edge, modern-sounding, innovative idea. Feel free to use it.

Tomorrow’s Story …

A Centennial Mystery Cake.

This Day, Last Year …

We learned about High Tea and Low Tea.

Quotation for the Day …

Half of the receipts in our cookbooks are mere murder to such constitutions and stomachs as we grow here......in America, owing to our brighter skies and more fervid climate, we have developed an acute, nervous delicacy of temperament far more akin to that of France than of England. Catherine Beecher, 1846.