February 13: Coconut

Ahh, the mysteries of the universe. Who's responsible for crop circles? Is there intelligent life on other planets? What happens when you die? And, of course, is a coconut a fruit or a nut? Perhaps not one of life's great mysteries, but it's still a valid question. Particularly to my daughter who's been asking that a lot recently. I've mentioned in previous blog entries her nut allergy. As a result, she's very skeptical of coconut. And, unfortunately, it's quite amazing how many food products out there contain coconut oil. Thus, when we hand over the ingredients for her to read, so that she can be assured what she is about to ingest is in fact safe, we always hit a roadblock with the dreaded coconut oil. So, this day I set out on a mission to find out "the truth about coconuts" (sounds like a bad film featuring Uma Thurman and Janeane Garofalo).. thus being able to either ease my daughter's tensions or confirm her fears. What I came to discover is that, depending on how you look at a coconut, it can be considered both, as well as a seed. Weird, huh? There's a whole scientific explanation about it that you can read here if you have the time (and attention span), but to keep things simple it is what is called a drupe. What is a drupe, you might ask? A drupe is a fruit with a hard stony covering enclosing the seed and comes from the word drupa meaning overripe olive. All drupes, have three layers: the exocarp (outer layer), the mesocarp (fleshy middle layer), and the endocarp (hard, woody layer that surrounds the seed). So, bottom line, and to my daughter's joy, a coconut is officially a fruit; even though it grows on a coconut palm tree. There you have it. Now, I also learned several other interesting facts about the coconut, that I will not go into detail about here for the sake of time and blog space. But, if you're interested in these little tidbits, I highly recommend checking them out here.