T

hough a very common ingredient in Indonesian kitchens, coconuts are mysterious immigrants. It has not been known where their original habitat is because of their nature of traveling with the waves of oceans to unknown destinations where they eventually land and grow into other coconut palms.

Whoever plants a coconut tree, plants food and drink, vessels and clothing, a habitation for himself and a heritage for children, a famous man from the South Sea said.

For food and drink, we in Indonesia have many uses for coconuts. Opening a coconut there is water to drink. When the coconut is young, we can also enjoy the tender fruit flesh.

Mixed with coconut water, it is a refreshing drink and some people pour in a bit of coconut-pandanus (screwpine) syrup if the coconut water lacks sweetness. Put in ice cubes and it will enhance the freshness.

You can also use coconut water to boil foodstuff such as tempe or tofu, enhancing the taste. The flesh of ripe coconut can be grated, or pressed for coconut milk called santan, which is used for various traditional dishes.

Coconut is made into cooking oil and even virgin coconut oil, which is made with modern biotechnology now processed by the cold pressed method, to a miraculous product of nature.

Traditional coconut oil is made by grating coconut flesh into thick santan and then boiling it until it becomes an oily substance. The sediment of the oil is called blondo in Javanese and is made into various dishes.

But how do you know whether a coconut is young or old to successfully transform it into santan? A young coconut has a green esokarp (green husk) and when shaken it makes no sound because the young coconut holds much water, the old coconut has little water and not suitable to consume.

But old coconut flesh is perfect to produce coconut milk by grating and pressing it. To achieve thick coconut milk, we put water in coconut milk from a freshly grated coconut with a ratio of 1:1, medium thick 1:2 and thin coconut milk 1:3. It is not necessary to remove the brown skin from the flesh for normal use but remove it when you make a sweet coconut filling.

Socially, coconut has many important "duties" to fulfill. The young leaves of the coconut palm is made into various forms. One of the most popular is an intricate weaving called ketupat, mostly diamond shaped, but there are many other forms in various islands, long shaped, or in a quadratic form.

The ketupat is usually made during religious holidays such as Idul Fitri when Muslims finish fasting month Ramadhan. At weddings, the coconut leaves are present in the form of umbul umbul janur, weaving coconut tree leaves on a long bamboo stick, at the entrance of the street or at the venue of a festive reception.

In some regions a bleketepe is mantled at a house entrance by the father of the bride, with fruits such as a whole branch of bananas. Again, coconut palm leaves have an important place and are the standard symbol.

Grated medium young coconut has many uses in our kitchen. For the people of the Eastern Islands, grated coconut is roasted on a medium flame until it becomes a brownish color. It is then ground into a fine powder and added to a special dish. The dish is then very flavorsome.

On the other hand, in East Java it is roasted and then put atop a dish. The Central Javanese mix it with spices into a pungent sweet side dish eaten as a moist dressing for salads such as urap. In West Sumatra, people add roasted coconut during the last stages of meat dishes such as rendang to achieve a darker color more rapidly.

But it is not just for food that people in Indonesia use coconut. Among others, special spoons are made to take a portion of rice called centong. Many people say that hot rice taken with a traditional centong has a better flavor. Large spoons to cook with are called irus and to take water from a large jug. The words were initially Javanese terms but because of transmigration they are often used in other regions.

Health benefits of the coconut flesh are many because it is considered a warming food and helps the body in many aspects such as building blood and energy. Rebecca Wood, a famous expert in healthy eating, said that coconut is used in the treatment of diabetes and has laxative properties.

Though old and rather hard, coconut flesh is also given to children suffering from malnutrition. In many villages in Indonesia it is not given too often, because they believe that eating too much old coconut flesh, as many countries in Europe believe, will cause stomach disorders.