- When are coconuts harvested?
- Where are coconuts harvested?
- How are coconuts harvested?
- tips and tricks
After a maturing period of twelve months, the coconut can be harvested. This is not without its dangers, which is why the people in the growing areas have come up with some interesting techniques for harvesting.
When are coconuts harvested?
Coconuts are harvested practically all year round. As a rule, they are not quite ripe when they are harvested, but are green and soft. They then still contain a lot of the refreshing coconut water, namely up to half a liter. Coconuts that fall from the palm tree by themselves are often spoiled or fermented, similar to fallen fruit, which is already overripe.
Where are coconuts harvested?
Most of the coconuts that we trade come from large crops in Brazil, the Dominican Republic, India, Indonesia, Sri Lanka, Malaysia, the West Indies, the Philippines or the Ivory Coast. In the meantime, coconut palms are no longer exclusively grown on huge plantations in monocultures, but are also being grown organically in smaller mixed cultures according to ecological standards.
How are coconuts harvested?
Harvesting coconuts is not easy, but there are several ways. Knives on poles several meters long are usually used for harvesting. So it can be harvested from the ground. Or the harvesters climb the coconut palms to harvest. A good climber manages to harvest up to 40 palm trees a day.
Another variant of harvesting, common in Indonesia, Malaysia and Thailand, is the use of trained macaques. The monkeys on a leash climb onto the palm trees and rotate the coconuts around their own axis until they fall down. The macaques are much quicker and more agile than humans, which means fewer accidents happen.
The training of the macaques is quite difficult, because the monkeys learn to react to calls and must not get caught in the palm with their leashes. This makes them valuable workhorses for the local population. If the monkeys lose the fun of harvesting coconuts, they may no longer work properly and lose value.
tips and tricks
You can buy coconuts fresh all year round because they are harvested all year round.
UE