2024 Author: Isabella Gilson | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-17 03:14
Exotic fruits have always aroused interest with their unusual appearance and unexplored taste. Especially a lot of questions arise about coconut. The main one is: "Is coconut a fruit or a nut?" The answer interests many lovers of goodies. And each of them puts forward his own version, which is often wrong. What is coconut, we will try to find out. But no matter what category it belongs to, we can say with confidence that this fruit is incredibly tasty and he althy. It is widely used in cooking, and many flavored drinks are prepared from the liquid extracted from it.
The answer to an intriguing question and the structure of the product
Coconut is a fruit or a nut? This is a sacramental question, the answer to which many people want to know. This fruit cannot be called either one or the other. If people call a coconut a nut, they are making a huge mistake. It is actually a drupe or stone fruit such as an apricot, plum or peach.
Reply tothe question "What is a coconut - is it a fruit or a nut?" it is possible in another way: this is a long angiosperm plant belonging to the Palm family. The length of the drupe reaches 30 centimeters, it has a round shape and can weigh up to 2.5 kilograms.
Having studied the features of the fruit more carefully, we can say that it belongs to the genus and species Cocos. Thus, we have a unique and unique edible product that cannot be called either a nut or a berry, let alone a fruit. The most appropriate name would still be a drupe.
The product has the following structure:
- Exocarp - outer shell, pierced with fibers (coir).
- Endocarp is an inner shell, which is a hard shell with a seed hiding inside. It contains the pulp of the drupe (white copra) and the endosperm, which is popularly called coconut water.
Calorie food and its composition
Above we have already described what a coconut is. This is a fruit or a nut, we have already found out and determined that it is neither one nor the other. But since many gourmets love drupe, they will probably want to get information about its calorie content. This information will be especially useful for women who always watch their figure. So, one hundred grams of coconut pulp contains 360 kilocalories. The water present in the drupe, on the contrary, is almost non-caloric, despite its natural sweetness and rehydrating qualities. Coconut milk is the best way to restore the water balance in the human body.
If you eat coconut (it's a fruit, or a nut, or a berry, explained above), you can get better, but you shouldn't deny yourself such a delicacy at all. Just enjoy it occasionally and preferably in small amounts.
The white pulp of the product is characterized by the presence of a huge amount of fiber and saturated fat. It also contains protein. In addition to category B vitamins, the drupe contains folic, ascorbic and pantothenic acids.
What is useful drupe
Having exactly figured out the question of what a coconut is, is it a fruit or is it a nut, I want to know about its positive effect on the body. Useful properties have not only the pulp, but also milk and drupe oil. All these products have anthelmintic, antiviral, wound healing and antimicrobial properties.
The positive features of the fetus have a beneficial effect on male and female he alth. Since coconut is the strongest aphrodisiac, it is able to increase sexual desire. This delicacy contains a huge amount of B vitamins, and therefore it is incredibly useful for the cardiovascular system and eye he alth. The use of drupes can lower blood cholesterol levels, normalize the functioning of the thyroid gland, reduce the risk of getting sick with diseases such as diarrhea, cancer and acute respiratory infections.
Coconut is an excellent way to strengthen the immune system, and it also perfectly restores energy and strength after heavy mental and physical stress.
Choose a treat
Coconut, the description, composition and benefits of which are presented in the article, you need to be able to choose the right one so that the fruit is really tasty. When buying a product, pay attention to whether there are even the smallest cracks on it. If they are found, then it is better not to purchase such a drupe, since most likely all the liquid spilled out of it during transportation. If the product is good, then the buyer will clearly hear milk splashing in it.
How to open
In addition to finding out what a coconut is - a fruit or a nut (general information on this topic is given at the beginning of the article), you also need to learn how to open a drupe. To do this, you need a narrow knife and a hammer. The first tool should be to pierce a hole in one of the three recesses located at the top of the fruit. After that, you will need to drain the milk into the container, and then hit with a hammer where the “golden section” is located (a third of the distance from the recesses). You will have to put a knife into the crack that has formed and put a little pressure on it: the fruit will crack and open easily.
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