STAPLE ARTICLE OF DIET 



'In- total for 1906-7 came to 105,379 tons, valued at Rs. 75,99,121. Cocoa- 

 nit oilcake is chiefly exported from Madras, and consequently constitutes 

 important item in these transactions. The value of the total traffic and 

 present prosperity may be inferred from the fact that from all India 

 9 exports in 1886-7 stood at only Rs. 1,71,107. This is, however, but 

 lirvrt evidence of the extent of the Indian exports in cocoanut cake. 

 [('/. AV- Hull.. 1897, 416; Leather, Agri. Ledg., 1897, No. 8, 159-60.] 

 Medicine. Very full accounts of the medicinal properties of the 

 joanut are given in the Dictionary and in the Pharmacographia Indica 

 (iii.. 511-9). Briefly it may be said that, for European medicine, the most 

 important advantages of C. iim-ifrwi are the anthelmintic action of the 

 tirsli fruit (especially of the volatile oil of the shell) ; the properties of the 

 as also the possibility of substituting the oil for cod-liver oil, in cases 

 rhere the latter cannot be taken. For medicinal purposes the olein is 

 eparated from the solid fats, as in the preparation of what the Natives 

 ill dvel. (According to some writers this is named muthel, the meanings 

 dvel and muthel being perhaps reversed.) In making that substance 

 le kernel of the fresh nut is pulped and strained and the oil separated 

 >m the milky fluid by heating. A preparation of the same kind is now 

 lown in Europe as "coco-olein." Both by Native and European 

 ahysicians in India the " milk " from the unripe fruit is recommended as 

 useful refrigerant in fever and urinary disorders, but in Bengal it is 

 jmmonly believed that the consumption of too much cocoanut milk 

 nds to cause hvdrocele. In dyspepsia and consumption Native prac- 

 tioners prescribe the pulp of the ripe fruit made up with ghi, coriander, 

 cardamoms, etc. This mixture is called ndrikela-khanda. The 

 lowers and fresh toddy are astringent. The soft, brown tomentum or 

 stton found outside the base of the leaf-sheath is an excellent styptic, 

 ce the corresponding products of Bornstnis and Caryota. For an 

 ibstract of the somewhat diverse and conflicting opinions of the Arab 

 physicians Rhases, Avicenna, Serapion, etc. the reader should consult 

 Ldams (Comment, in Paulus /Egineta, 1847, iii., 438). 



Food Products. With a large section of the Indian population the 

 coanut is almost a staple article of diet, and a very wholesome one. 

 latives of all classes consume the soft creamy pulp and cool refreshing 

 rater (milk) of the young nut (dab), and also use the same in cooking curry, 

 le terminal bud or " cabbage," though esteemed a delicacy, is not often 

 iten, because its removal kills the palm. The harder pulp of the matured 

 nit is dried either naturally or artificially and the copra thus formed is 

 irched with rice, rasped, and put into curries or made into sweetmeats. The 

 sh or fermented juice of the stem is consumed as a beverage toddy (tort); 

 jy evaporation it is made into jaggery (coarse sugar), and by subsequent 

 itment even refined sugar. Rheede (Hort. Mai., 1686, i., 6) states that 

 his day a coarse reddish sugar was obtained by boiling the juice mixed 

 rith lime. When distilled, tort becomes spirit or arak and finally vinegar 

 (see p. 1111). The methods of collecting the juice and the manufacture 

 >f its products differ very little, however, from those employed with other 

 ilms. (See Borassus flabellifer, pp. 170-1 ; Cleghorn, in Edinb. New Phil. 

 Journ., n.s.,1861, xiv.) Incidentally it should be observed that in Bengal the 

 cocoanut-palm is not tapped for toddy but in Bombay this is an important 

 industry, although very little sugar is made from it. It may be noted that 

 jaggery is not infrequently mixed with lime to make a strong cement which 



361 



cocos 



NUCIPERA 

 Oilcake 



Medicine. 



Avfl and 

 Muthel. 



The .\Hlk. 



Toddy. 



Edible 

 Products. 



Copra. 



Juice. 

 Sugar. 



Spirits. 



Bombay 



Industry. 



