By Products

BY PRODUCTS

Throughout the world, people enjoy eating crisp, juicy chunks of fresh coconut meat. Shredded and dried coconut meat adds a distinctive flavor and texture to candy bars and other foods. People in tropical lands also use the coconut husk. They weave the short, stiff fibers (called coir) of the husk into mats, ropes, and brooms.

Coconut Leaves	Coconut Pith
Coconut Fruit	Inflorescence
Coconut Water	Coconut Shell
Coconut Husk	Coconut Trunk & Roots

COCONUT LEAVES

Coconut leaves produce good quality paper pulp, midrib brooms, hats and mats, fruit trays, waste baskets, fans, beautiful midrib decors, lamp shades, placemats, bags and utility roof materials.

COCONUT FRUIT

The coconut fruit produces “buko’, often used for salads, “halo-halo” (crushed ice with sweetened fruit), sweets and pastries. Buko is of three kinds: “mala-kanin”, or having the consistency of boiled rice; “mala-uhog”, mucus-like consistency and ready for eating; and “mala-katad”, or like leather. The last kind is the one used for making sweets. A mature coconut or “niyog” is used in making sweets and special Filipino dishes. The sport fruit of the coconut is the “makapuno”. Considered a delightful delicacy and largely used for making preserves and ice-cream, it cannot be kept in storage and will not germinate. It has three layers: semi-acid, soft and hard meat.

COCONUT PITH

Out of its pith can be produced coco pickles, “guinatan” and “lumpia”. Its guinit can produce helmets, caps, wooden shoe straps, handbags, fans, picture and house decor like lamp shades and guinit flowers for the table.

Ever heard of the "Millionaire's Salad"? It is fit for any ordinary man though and it is made up of the “ubod”or the heart of the coconut. Actually, “ubod” is considered one of the finest vegetables in the Philippines. It can be served in many appetizing ways. Cubed in fairly large bits, it makes wonderful addition to Spanish rice, or in their long strips, to Arroz a la Cubana. As a salad, it is mixed with mayonnaise dressing and heaped onto with lettuce leaves, red pepper, chopped spring onions, paprika, or a combination of some of those which may be used to garnish this all-white salad. Crab meat with “ubod” in “lumpia” can prove to be very delicious.

INFLORESCENCE

Out of the bud of the coconut tree's inflorescence is a juice called coconut toddy or tuba. The fermented juice is the common alcoholic drink in the coconut region. The fermented tuba would be a good drink even to those who enjoy the finer things. The principal uses of the toddy are: as fresh beverage; for producing alcoholic beverages; for producing vinegar; for making sugar; and as a source of yeast for making bread.

Coconut toddy, after being left for five days then distilled, produces an alcoholic spirit known locally as “lambanog” which is more or less 98% proof. In its taste, sweet toddy is a liquid containing essentially 12 to 18% sugar (sucrose). Other products from the coconut tree's inflorescence are gin, vinegar, candy trays, and Christmas and wall decor.

COCONUT SHELL

Coconut shell produces the core of the most saleable household products and fashion accessories that can be turned into lucrative, wide-selling cottage industries. Among them are shell necklaces, shell bags, cigarette boxes, shell ladles, buttons, lamp shades, fruit and ash trays, guitars, placemats, coffee pots, cups, wind chimes, coco banks, briquetted charcoal and activated carbon.

The most important use of coconut shell is activated carbon produced from its charcoal. It is utilized in air purification systems such as cooker hoods, air conditioning, industrial gas purification systems, and industrial and gas masks.

COCONUT TRUNK & ROOTS

Out of the coconut trunk, hardy and durable wood is obtained to make benches, tables, carvings, picture frames, tables, tool boxes, and construction materials, among many others. Paper pulp can also be extracted from the coconut trunk and other woody parts of the tree. Among the woody parts of the tree, the trunk gives the highest pulp yield of 43%; the midribs, 41%, and the petiole or the slender stop that support the leaf, 32%. Tests also show that coconut coir (80%) and abaca bleached sulfate pulp (40%) are a good combination in the production of offset book paper. Medicine, beverages and dyestuff are obtained from the coconut roots.