Coconut Plantation

Our next stop on the trip was a coconut farm where they make the coconut oil and lots of unbelievable crafts. Harvesting coconuts requires that someone goes up to get them down. This requires a ladder - probably in the original style. They cut a tree, the trimmed the branches, leaving alternating branches sticking out so that the person can climb up to harvest the flowers and the coconuts.
The process to draw out the coconut oil hasn’t really changed over the years. Once the coconut is harvested and husked (all by hand in these small places), the meat is grated, mixed with hot water and then squeezed to draw out resulting “milk”. This is then cooked over a fire for hours, until what is left is the pure coconut oil – tasty but sadly not so good to eat very often.
The flowers from the coconut trees are also used to make coconut sugar, an alternative sweetener. The sweet, watery sap that drips from cut flower buds is boiled until a sticky sugar remains.