[priya]

Low in Carbs
99% Fat Free
Low in sugars

Coconut Water contains organic compounds possessing healthy growth promoting properties that have been known to help -

Keep the body cool and at the proper temperature.
Orally re-hydrate your body, it is an all natural isotonic beverage.
Carry nutrients and oxygen to cells.
Naturally replenish your body's fluids after exercising.
Raise your metabolism.
Promote weight loss.
Boost your immune system.
Detoxify and fight viruses.
Cleanse your digestive tract.
Control diabetes.
Aid your body in fighting viruses that cause the flu, herpes, and AIDS.
Balance your PH and reduce risk of cancer.
Treat kidney and urethral stones.
Boost poor circulation.
Coconut Water –

The English name coconut, first mentioned in English print in 1555, comes from Spanish and Portugese word coco, which means "monkey face." Spanish and Portugese explorers found a resemblance to a monkey's face in the three round indented markings or "eyes" found at the base of the coconut. On the Nicobar Islands of the Indian Ocean, whole coconuts were used as currency for the purchace of goods until the early part of the twentieth century.

Coconuts are the fruit of the coconut palm, botanically known as cocos nucifera, with nucifera meaning "nut-bearing." The fruit-bearing palms are native to Malaysia, Polynesia and southern Asia, and are now also prolific in South America, India , the Pacific Islands , Hawaii and Florida. The light, fibrous husk allowed it to easily drift on the oceans to other areas to propagate. In Sanskrit, the coconut palm is known as kalpa vriksha, meaning "tree which gives all that is necessary for living," since nearly all parts of the tree can be used in some m anner or another. The coconut itself has many food uses, including milk, meat, sugar and oil as well as functioning as its own dish and cup. The husk was also burned for fuel by natives, but today a seed fibre called coir is taken from the husk and used to make brushes, mats, fishnets, and rope. A very potent fermented toddy or drink is also made from the coconut palm's sap. Coconut oil, a saturated fat made from dried coconut meat, is used for commercial frying and in candies and margarines, as well as in non-edible products such as soaps and cosmetics.

Although it takes up to a year for coconuts to mature, the trees bloom up to thirteen times a year, so fruit is constantly forming yielding a continuous harvest year-round. An average harvest from one tree runs about 60 coconuts, with some trees yielding three times that amount. The coconut's name is a bit of a misnomer, since it is botanically classified as a drupe and not a nut. It is the largest seed known.

If you've ever opened a fresh coconut, you will have seen the thin, opaque almost clear coconut juice or water which has a slight almond flavor. Contrary to popular belief, this is not the coconut milk. However, the water is consumed as a drink fresh from the coconut by many, and it can also be used in recipes.

Here are some more information about Coconut Water -
"It's a natural isotonic beverage, with the same level of electrolytic balance as we have in our blood. It's the fluid of life, so to speak." In fact, during the Pacific War of 1941-45, both sides in the conflict regularly used coconut water - siphoned directly from the nut - to give emergency plasma transfusions to wounded soldiers.

Most coconut water is still consumed fresh in tropical coastal areas - once exposed to air, the liquid rapidly loses most of its organoleptic and nutritional characteristics, and begins to ferment.
Coconut Water is More Nutritious than whole milk - Less fat and
NO cholesterol.
Coconut Water is More Healthy than Orange Juice - Much lower calories.
Coconut Water is Better than processed baby milk - It contains lauric acid, which is present in human mother's milk.
Coconut water is naturally sterile - Water permeates though the filtering husk.
Coconut water is a universal donor - Its identical to human blood plasma.
Coconut Water is a Natural Isotonic Beverage - The same level we have in our blood.
Coconut water has saved lives in 3rd world countries thru Coconut IV.

"Coconut water is the very stuff of Nature, biologically Pure, full of Natural Sugars, Salts, and Vitamins to ward off fatigue and is the next wave of energy drinks BUT natural", according to Mortin Satin, Chielf of the United Nation's Food & Agriculture Organization.

Coconut water contains more potassium (at about 294 mg) than most sports drinks (117 mg) and most energy drinks.
Coconut water has less sodium (25mg) where sports drinks have around 41mg and energy drinks have about 200 mg.
Coconut water has 5mg of Natural Sugars where sports and energy drinks range from 10-25mg of Altered Sugars.
Coconut water is very high in Chloride at 118mg, compared to sports drinks at about 39mg.
Data is based on a 100ml drink

[crvlvr]

Thanks for the detailed post. I am becoming a fan of this versatile fruit/nut..  Coconut Milk adds a wonderful flavor to many currys (and works as a quick fix if it turned out too spicy) and coconut oil for frying is just brilliant. More on coconut oil:

http://en.wikipedia....iki/Coconut_oil
http://www.westonapr...oconut_oil.html

[jyoti]

I've also heard it's a diuretic... don't know if that's exactly a benefit, tho. *grin*

[priya]

Depends on where you are I suppose.....

[gautam]

Coconut water is actually part of the endosperm tissue, the food reserve of many seeds. Very roughly speaking, in an unfertilized egg mother cell,  one set of 2 nuclei each derived from the two poles sit in the middle of the unfertilized cell, waiting. Lower down, sits the female gamete, the singe nuclei destined to becme the embryo.

When a pollen grain completes its journey and bursts through, it carries 2 male gamete one of which fuses with the female gamete to birth the embryo, the second with the set of 2 nuclei to birth the endosperm tissue, that is going to feed the developing embryo. This 3n or triple genome tissue is the liquid endosperm that comprises the coconut water.

Over the course of maturation of the seed, it is this endosperm or coconut water that becomes the coconut flesh in gradual steps. Its composition changes continually, too. The bland early taste becomes sweeter and much sharper as the layer of flesh laid down turns from soft, transparent to thicker, translucent, and then thicker and whiter. If you were to taste it even later you would find it quite pungent, tickling your nose, and much reduced in quantity.

Therefore, when we speak about the composition of coconut water, we need to be careful to specify when and at what stage. A more mature coconut with thicker endosperm, yet quite unripe, would have severe consequences if infiltrated into the human blood system.

[noflylist]

I have not been able to develope taste for coconut water, but my wife swears by it. Caned water I bbought from a chinese store, is just not the same. I bet it loses its essential potency in caning process.

[gautam]

There are many varieties of coconuts and some are especially prized for the quality of their water.  The water or liquid endosperm is continually  transforming itself into the solid flesh being deposited, and becoming concentrated and reduced in volume all the time. Eventually, one of two fates intervenes. The embryo begins to develop: it becomes a spongy, white round enlarging mass, with its own peculiar texture and flavor, much enjoyed by some. Or, it dies, and the "water' is wholly reduced and the "copra" becomes detached from the shell, a very concentrated, grey-blue color to the flesh. This state is much prized and used finely sliced in the prsad of many temples of northern India and especially Kedarnath and Badrinath.

The thin grey slivers are mixed with dry chivda/poha, rock candy crystals, and even a sprinkling of real camphor, the distillate of Cinnamomum camphora, a Himalayan tree: this is the consecrated offering or prasad of the mountain pilgrimages of the source of the Ganga, the Yamuna, and Kedar-Badri. Makes sense: protein, carbs and fat, all in good proportions and light weight for the High Himalayas.

There is a point when the balance between solid white flesh and the liqiud endosperm is such that he latter is at its sweetest, yet without the later pungency. The red coconuts are also noticeably sweeter.

[gautam]

Sorry, made a double post by mistake

Edited by gautam, 21 October 2007 - 10:29 PM.

[webswami]

is feni good for you?
nevermind I am still drinking it.

[malkers]

Welcome to the tree Linda.

Earned yourself a ban with your first post, although I don't know why I'm telling you as you can't see this anyway now!  

[jyotirmoy]

What was that link?

[malkers]

jyotirmoy, on Mar 5 2008, 08:02 AM, said:

What was that link?

Herbal Remedies and such for sale!

[krisannie]

Coconut milk is rich in nutrients such as vitamins, calcium, chloride, minerals and potassium and also  contains a saturated fat called lauric acid, the same saturated fat found in mother's milk. Lauric acid promotes bone health and brain development.

[jillyronald]

The coconut milk is prepared with coconut. Coconut milk contains enzymes and essential oils which is beneficial for stopping hair loss and premature graying hairs. Coconut milk contains vitamins E and D which is essential for hair growth milk and also effective for the treatment of dandruff.

Edited by jillyronald, 15 September 2010 - 12:42 PM.

[janachen]

it's a good treatment for hair fall...

[palomavictoria]

Coconut milk is one of the many things that has many healing properties. It can actually be seen as a miracle food of sorts. It is good for the health of your skin and hair. It is widely used as a base in many cosmetic applications and products like hair oil and skin moisturizers. It is an excellent hydrant.