Rock Your Palate

Coconut Water!

Coconuts are fruits of the coconut palm tree, native to the South Pacific, Southern Asia and now prolific in South America, Hawaii and Florida. Coconut water is found in the center of a fresh coconut, it is thin and almost clear with a slight almond flavor. For centuries, these tropical areas and their inhabitants have been familiar with coconut water’s health benefits.

It has less fat than whole milk with no cholesterol; it contains lauric acid [found in mum’s breast milk]. It has more potassium than a banana; it is low in sodium, low in sugars which are natural sugars and high in magnesium and chloride.

It is a natural isotonic beverage with the same level of electrolytic balance as our blood. It is rumored that in the Pacific coconut water was used as saline during transfusions during WWII.

In the tropics it is consumed fresh by drilling a hole to the center of the coconut breaking the naturally sterile barrier; you insert a straw and suck. Recently, I’ve seen a lot of buzz on the net to package this “agua de coco” elixir for consumption world wide, or least far from the tropics. Could this be an alternative to nutritional beverages?