JAMAICA, 



BXJLIjETIN 



i>F THE 



DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE. 



Vol. I. MARCH, 1903. Part 3. 



ON THE NUTRITIVE VALUE AND SOME OF THE 

 ECONOMIC USES OF THE COCO-NUT. 



By William J. Gies. 



Few if any vegetable products furnish so many useful articles as the 

 coco-nut. It forms the chief food of the inhabitants of most tropical 

 coasts and islands, where the kernel is not only eaten in the ripe and un- 

 ripe conditions, but is also prepared and served in various ways, ft forms 

 an accessory part of the diet, and is found in many of the confections of 

 civilized man all over the globe. The milk is considered an agreeable 

 cooling beverage in the tropics, although it is diuretic in its effect, and 

 causes irritation of the mucous membrane of the bladder and urethra 

 when taken too freely. Immoderate use of the fruit is said to cause rheu- 

 matic and other diseases. 



Experiments recently published in the Bulletin of the Torrey 

 Botanical Club by Professor Kirk wood and the writer, conducted 

 in part in this garden and with the co-operation of Dr. MacDouo-al 

 indicate that the nutritive value of the endosperm of the coco-nut 

 resides mainly in its high content of oil and moderate amount of 

 carbohydrate. Of the former the fresh endosperm contains 35-40 per cent. ; 

 of the latter, approximately 10 per cent. The amount of protsid is very 

 Blight, being little more than 3 per cent. The quantity of inorganic matter 

 is 1 per cent. The water amounts to nearly 50 per cent. The chief con- 

 stituent of the milk, aside from water (95 per cent.), is sugar, nearly all 

 of the solids being thus composed, as the very sweet taste amply testifies. 

 Various alcoholic beverages have been made from fermented coco-nut milk. 



The endosperm is very agreeable to the taste, and with the exception of 

 the cellulose (3 per cent.), is readily digestible. Domestic animals eat it 

 eagerly, and the coco-nut-crab feeds on it almost exclusively. The resi- 

 due left over after the fat has been expressed from the " copra" is widely 

 used in Europe as food for cattle, also as fertilizer. 



The use of coco-fat as a substitute for butter among the poorer classes 

 has been increasing, and it is frequently employed as a butter adulterant. 

 The tendency of coco-fat to rancidity is not as great as that of animal 

 fats, and for this reason " butters" made from it keep well, and hvae beea 



