National Coconut Day
Coconuts make a great bikini top for this gal.
Thank you coconuts for being so versatile that it seems like there is really nothing a coconut can’t be used for. I’m actually surprised that we can’t use coconut oil instead of motor oil in our cars. And even though coconut is officially listed as a tree nut (but it’s drupaceous fruit), it is rare for people to be allergic to any derivative of a coconut. Which supports my theory that we can use the coconut for so many things, it’s like the “thneed” in the Dr. Seuss book.
This type of sustainability reminds me of the last time I went to the Philippines. I made it a ritual to wake up, work out and then walk out the front of my hotel building to get fresh Buko juice from a local street vendor. As I waited, the vendor would cut a large hole at the top of a young coconut (buko) and poke a straw in for me to drink the “juice” which was so good. The hole on top of the coconut is bigger than the size of half dollar coin. After I drank the juice, the same vendor would split the coconut completely in half and the piece that was cut off to make the hole became a spoon that I used to scoop out the flesh of the coconut. The difference between a regular coconut and young coconuts is the flesh inside. The young coconut is very easy to scrape off - the consistency is like white, firm jello not hard and broken into chunks or shredded like the regular coconut that has a brown, hairy shell. Buko juice was my breakfast every day. It was so fresh and delicious plus I loved how sustainable it was to use nothing but a big knife (more like a machete) and a straw to devour the entire inside of the young coconut. If we took it a step further, there is so much we can do with the coconut shell too. The entire coconut can be used for something.
Unless coconuts are not your thing - due to the smell, the taste or the texture - we should ALL celebrate National Coconut Day by finding out about all the many ways we use the coconut. A great resource to find out all about coconuts is The Coconut Coalition of the Americas . I found their link on Nationaldaycalendar.com when I was looking for information regarding National Coconut Day. Nationaldaycalendar.com shares that the CCA was founded in 2017 because North America needed to have a unified voice for coconut industry stakeholders to ensure better trading. “Industry members came together to steward the category and promote the facts about coconut oil and coconut products.” - Nationaldaycalendar.com
This is my sister-in-law Hailey at Coco-Loco’s having their specialty drink the “Coco-Loco”. In the pictures below we are together, as we celebrate at the same place with the same drink to kick off the vacation. (Every year except 2020).
National Coconut Day has been observed on June 26th annually since 2019 when the Coconut Coalition of the Americas founded it. The purpose of the day is to bring awareness of all the benefits of coconuts and to celebrate it!
The 3 most common uses for coconuts are:
As a superfood because of it’s “medium-chain triglyceride (MCTs) content”
The fiber helps with skin and hair care.
The flavor is perfect for baking and cooking.
But I learned by reading nationaldaycalendar.com that there are other uses as well. “Beyond the fruit and water of the coconut that we consume as food, consumers also use the husk and shells as a potting medium, carbon filtration, charcoal, bio-fuel, and even organic cat litter. Another use for the husks is the production of coir, which manufacturers use in making mattresses, doormats, and more.”
My underage niece is NOT drinking a specialty cocktail, she’s drinking coconut water!
And if we’re not drinking coconut water, we can be soaking in bath water with coconut milk.
At one of our favorite spas, Los Altos de Eros, they add shredded coconut to the coconut milk bath water. It’s the one time I do not complain about things floating in the water.
Cans of coconut milk are a staple in my pantry because I use coconut milk to cook all the time. The convenience of the easy flip top is such a plus. For National Coconut Day, considering giving a can of coconut milk along with a copy of one of your favorite recipes that uses coconut milk. I will share my favorite below:
Always have a can of Coco Lopez in your pantry. It’s a must! I am too afraid to see what else is in this cream besides the real coconut cream because there has to be something unhealthy in it for it to taste this good. I add a big spoonful of this to our daily smoothies in Costa Rica. The smoothie recipe is: oat milk, frozen strawberries, frozen bananas and Coco Lopez. Delish. You need nothing else. Feel free to change up the fruit by using frozen mangoes, frozen pineapple, frozen blueberries. Coco Lopez is the secret ingredient. I also use Coco Lopez every year during Christmas for my Puerto Rican Egg Nog pinches (see below).
The recipe above is what turned me onto Coco Lopez. Find the egg nog post here.
This is so my jam. Get it? The true Filipino in me comes out when I see a jar of this stuff. Again, I avoid looking at the ingredients because Filipino coconut jam is the bomb and I don’t want to know if there is something in it that shouldn’t be. I can eat it by the spoonful and/or I can eat it on a warm Pan de Sal (Filipino bread roll). I learned from my grandfather to eat it straight from the jar. If we didn’t have anything to eat for dessert after dinner, my grandfather, who lived with us, would get his sugar fix from this coconut jam. I followed in his footsteps. Also, if I remember correctly, I would spread this jam on Ritz crackers. Sweet, crunchy and salty combo.
If I’m not soaking in a tub with floating coconut flakes , another way I love shredded coconut is topping our acai bowls with it. Shredded coconut adds the perfect touch for taste and texture.
Lastly, if you follow me on Instagram, you will see that I wear this sweat shirt often. I’m always using social media to thank my in-laws again for giving me this thoughtful pinch. We were in Costa Rica when they gave it to me and it reminds me of having cocktails at Coco Loco’s with them.
Hopefully these tidbits about coconuts and coconut products have sparked some thoughtful ideas and better yet, brought you some joy. I’d love to hear about other coconut facts and products that are out there and are exciting to know. Please share here in the comments or tag me in a post. Don’t forget to use the hashtag: #NationalCoconutDay.
Pinches,
Barb