Coconut Water

I grew up in the Midwest, so naturally each summer we would make a mad dash to Florida for our summer vacation. Florida, the meccas of all meccas, all that it seemed people during that time in my life worked for, that week or so of beach, sand, sun. Perfection. These summers at the beach were definitely where my love affair with the water first began. 

I can remember always looking a coconuts, wondering and wanting what was inside. One particular summer we worked for hours trying to break open an old, brown, rotten coconut, we had found on the ground, too stupid to know it was done, over, had nothing to offer us. I think my grandfather eventually went after it with a screw driver or something but I don't recall the outcome. All I know if that if I would have just looked up, we would have seen the treasure hanging above our heads. We had young, green coconuts at our finger tips, we just were too niaeve to know what was inside or to look beyond the awe inspiring palm tree which represented everything tropical to us to see them.  


Moving to the Caribbean has given me a whole new appreciate for the coconut. They utilize the coconut for many things here, not only cooking but in oils and lotions and well, everything. I now find myself not looking at "palm trees" not for their beautiful branches but more to find out if it is of the species that bares coconuts.  Nyah refers to all palm trees as coconut trees. 

Growing up deprived, in the land locked state of Indiana (kidding), all I knew about coconuts was the milky substance people found in coconuts in the movies or the dried stuff sold in the stores but what these young, green little beauties hold is coconut water. A sweet, watery substance found in young coconuts. Let me just say, it is good. The ultimate thirst quencher and I won't act cool, it was definitely a taste I had to acquire an appreciation of. 

George initially introduced me to coconut water and we used to set out each Sunday to find the guys who would go around and load the beds of their trucks with the little beauties then get out their machetes and show their skills, breaking the coconut open with a few swift waks and then selling the water by the gallon. We now see the tennis players on TV drinking coconut water and it makes us laugh. 


Coconut water is so cool now, the latest health craze, as it should be. The health benefits are endless, cholesterol free, fat free, low calorie, super hydrating, rich in potassium and a natural laxative. I find it interesting that in some developing countries coconut water has been used as an intravenous hydrating fluid when saline is not available. 


So why don't we go climb a tree and get the coconuts ourselves? Well, we could, but that is just hard and the trees are really high and we aren't that flexible, so we buy it as fresh as when we can. We did get lucky the other day and our friend gave us a few nuts so George popped the tops with great ease with get this, a steak knife, (no screw driver required) of all things and poured away and we had fresh coconut water to enjoy for the rest week (though I don't think it lasted that long). 

Oh, and please don't think George isn't macho, he does own a machette but he just keeps it at his parent's house. Not much storage here and the thought of a three year old with a machette isn't pretty. Machettes are pretty much a requirement for island living. Everyone has one. 

Here is my brother's holding his machete which he purchased while on island.

Oh, and here is my favorite coconut water coniseurre enjoying the tasty drink as it should be enjoyed, straight from the source. She was almost two years old in this picture and at that time still refereed to the tasty drink as "coconut wata". True Crucian she is.