No Dash Wey Di Coconut Milk Fi Foreign Powder Sintin.

Too often, I see people packing their trolley with processed foods and not with fresh food from the ground. Recently, I went to the supermarket and I saw pink coconut water. The only way I would drink pink coconut water is if I picked it from the trees that produce pink coconut water. I do not understant why we buy one box of orange juice, which is actually one box of 'brebbage' with orange flavour? It would be better if we bought an orange.

I love everything about coconut. The site of the trees swaying in the wind as if they're dancing to a popular Jamaican rhythm,  the leaves which are used to make hats, the nut used to clean the floor, the trash from the meat of the coconut used to make gizzada, coconut oil, and nothing beats a refreshing drink of coconut wata - it good fi yu dawta.

I went to the supermarket and I could not find any coconuts. There were numerous powdered substances which I gather have the coconut milk taste when mixed with water, but it is not coconut milk.

Look at the sachet below with the picture of a broken coconut on the front. Is powder made from a real coconut? If it is not, then is this picture misleading customers?

Shelves packed with powdered coconut milk.

The supermarket I went to last week had shelves packed with these commodities from countries like Thailand. Why do we spend our hard-earned dollars and purchase these foreign things rather than supporting our local farmers? The coconut tree grows in Jamaica

Nothing is sweeter than coconut water (liquid endosperm) straight from the coconut. For those who want to be creative, you can scrape out the meat (solid endosperm) and blend it with the coconut water.

Some people allow the coconut to remain on the tree until it turns brown, and we call those dried coconuts.

Let us now make use of the locally grown coconut. Purchase a dried coconut. Wash the dried coconut properly and use a hammer to break the shell (endocarp) over an open container to collect the coconut water. To remove the coconut meat, put the shell with the meat over boiling water for a few minutes. You then use a small, sharp knife to pry the meat from the shell. 

Use the knife to cut up the hard meat into very small pieces. Pour some water in the blender and start the blender. Drop the pieces of coconut meat in the blender through the opening at the top. When it's finished, pour the mixture. through a very fine strainer into a container. Use a spoon to press out the milk from the strainer.

There you have it, your real coconut milk.

You also have the coconut trash left behind. Don't throw it away.

Don't forget you have the coconut shell.

Coconut shell.

Coconut husks.

You can use the husks as fuel, the shell for jewelry, and the milk to adds a delicious tastes to baked products and other cooked products. The trash left over after extracting the coconut milk can be used to make delicious flour dumplings or gizzadas.

Coconut floor brush.

The leaves of the tree have been used to make hats and baskets and to provide an archway over the entrance to wedding receptions. How could I forget that the coconut was used to make a brush to shine floors?

There are far more uses for the coconut plant and the fruit it produces, which cannot be replaced by artificial products in supermarkets.

Is body powder dem mix with essence of coconut and dem get coconut powder? Wi need fi know what mek it? We know fi sure say dat powder sintin cannot replace the good old Jamaican coconut milk.

Editor's Note

Please add your coconut recipes and tell us more about this wonder plant. I have only touched the surface!