Coconut curry
When one thinks of a tropical beach, they usually picture a palm tree hanging over clear coconut curry water. Indeed, coconut palms are common sights on tropical beaches around the world. Aside from being aesthetically pleasing, coconut palms bear fruit abundantly, and coconut fruits are used in all sorts of products these days.
Did you know that there are many different types of coconuts? You can find them all over the world as they make up a large portion of the plants in many tropical and subtropical ecosystems. There is only one species of coconut palm: Cocos nucifera. The species is ubiquitous among tropical beaches around the world, but it’s not entirely clear where the species originated. Coconut palms most likely came from Southeast Asia and Indonesia and were then distributed around the world by humans for cultivation. They can be separated into tall and dwarf varieties, but before we go into the different types of coconuts, let’s go over what makes the coconut fruit so special! Botanically speaking, the coconut fruit is a type of drupe, which is any fruit containing one large seed.
In the case of a coconut, the seed is huge, round, brown, and rock hard. You may be familiar with the seed’s durability if you’ve ever tried to open one. One of the most incredible products of the fruit is coconut water. The clear liquid is slightly sweet and incredibly refreshing. It has tons of nutrients too, so it’s a great alternative to regular water. Coconut meat is the white fleshy substance found inside the hard shell of a coconut. Ripe coconuts have harder meat while young coconuts have smooth, soft meat.
Regardless of ripeness, coconut meat contains all sorts of beneficial fats and oils that can boost your immune system, help control weight loss, and reduce blood sugar, among other things. Coconut oil and coconut milk are both derived from the meat of the coconut. Coconut oil is an excellent alternative to other cooking oil like olive or canola oil. Coconut milk has a rich, sweet taste and is a common ingredient in Asian dishes like curries. There are many different types of coconut palms and their fruit can be green, orange, or brown. The different colors of coconuts depend on the ripeness.
Green coconuts, which are unripe, have much more coconut water, while brown coconuts have much more meat. The following list contains info for 15 different types of coconuts, so keep reading to learn all about different coconut varieties! Dwarf coconut palms are typically small in stature. They start producing fruit at a small age and size. Sometimes it only takes a few years for a dwarf variety to produce coconuts, at which point it may only be a meter or two tall.
Even though dwarf coconuts can produce fruit when they are still a small size, some types can still grow to be quite tall. Special Features: This variety produces coconuts after 3 or 4 years, and lives around 50 years on average. It’s famous for producing huge orange coconuts, up to 65 per year! The coconuts themselves have a large amount of meat and sweet water.
This variety is one of the more popular ones due to the size of the coconuts and the amount of edible goodness they contain. Sun, Soil, and Water Needs: Full sun, well-drained soil, and drought tolerant. Special Features: The Malayan yellow dwarf is one of the older varieties, originally cultivated in the late 1800s. It is fairly easy to grow and produces medium-sized yellow coconuts after just a few years of age. These days, the Malayan yellow dwarf coconut can be found in countries all over the world, especially Thailand, Brazil, and the Pacific Islands.
