Coconut






This is a lot of work right here.

One of the three eyes is easy to poke a hole into. The other two eyes are not. One can be gouged with a Phillips screwdriver, another hole is hammered with a thinner Phillips screwdriver.

The coconut is drained into a cup. Yesterday the coconut water filled 1 cup. This coconut filled nearly 1 pint.

The coconut is held in one hand and struck with a hammer at its equator, rotated around the equator and struck repeatedly while turning.

When one half is larger than the other, the larger half is more difficult to separate the white part out. Because it's being held in there as a more complete ball.

And as you struggle with this, you cannot help but admire its construction by nature. Coconuts are awesome. They're so awesome it makes you want to handle them more. It's tedious and thoughts become prayers, to God or to the natural world for designing such wonders. And you go, "Holy shit! All the things that can be done with these parts! The water, the meat, making coconut milk, its fat, its shell, its protective coating. Trees did this. I can drink its nutrition, I can use its fat for various purposes including cooking and skin treatment. The meat can be shredded and turned into Almond Joy bars or cake. I can even make a monkey face out its shell."

If I was no Gilligan's Island, I could make a bra out of the shells, but that's just being ridiculous.

A seaweed bra would be more comfortable.




Both cups are loaded with coconut shreds. 

So is the Cuisinart mixing bowl. Wasting that seems obscene. I know people strain it, but there goes a lot of nutrition. I hate the idea of throwing it out. But that's what people do.

I drank one of the pints and it is delicious just as it is. The shreds coming through with each sip do not bother me. Then, when the liquid is gone, 1/4 the cup is filled with used shreds. I ate them with a spoon and they are delicious too. 

I'm thinking of ways to use them. I think they can flavor bread or biscuits or cookies very nicely. I see no reason to discard them.

And here, as political conservative, I can easily out-liberal the political liberal conservationists merely by saying to them, "I think it's wasteful to discard the flavorful shredded copra, just because it's been used to make coconut milk. Use it again, like a used tea-bag, or discover new uses to maximize its recycling besides composting. These are gifts from the Earth and we mustn't be careless." 

Then turn aside and wheeze-laugh like the cartoon dog Muttley. 

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