THE PREPARATION OF COPRA 125 



As everybody knows, copra is the trade name 

 given to the kernel of the coconut after it has been 

 dried, when it is quite white, possesses a pleasant 

 smell, and breaks with a sharp, brittle fracture. 

 The ideal article has been described as " that 

 which yields a clear, white oil, free from fatty acid, 

 pleasant and smooth to the taste, and having no 

 pungent and acrid smell. The producers on the 

 Malabar Coast, who have been established there 

 for many years, have by dint of much devotion 

 and energy succeeded in putting on the market an 

 almost perfect product, even when prepared in 

 bulk, almost wholly free from deleterious sub- 

 stances, which therefore rightly commands the 

 keenest competition and the highest prices." 



The process of drying the coconut is effected by 

 one of four methods, which are : (1) In the sun ; (2) in 

 kilns; (3) in hot-air chambers; (4) in rotary hot- 

 air appliances. The nuts are first husked and split 

 open with a cutlass, and the milk in them poured 

 out. The broken coconut is then divided into 

 several pieces, from each of which the white kernel 

 is extracted with a sharp knife, the pieces being 

 spread out in trays, and, if the first process be 

 adopted, exposed to the sun for a period of five 

 to ten days, according to circumstances. In the 

 old days the natives simply broke their coconuts 

 in two and laid the halves on the ground on bar- 

 becues, or on drying racks and hurdles, with the 



