Chapter XVIII 

 The Nut Butter Industry 



IN dealing generally with the development of 

 the coconut industry in the preceding chapters, 

 great emphasis has been laid upon the value of 

 coconut products as an efficient substitute for 

 animal fats in the preparation of food for human 

 consumption. One would wish for a better word 

 than " substitute" in this connection. The term 

 suggests a makeshift, or stopgap, and coconut pro- 

 ducts are neither the one nor the other. In 

 purity, food value, and in all other respects they 

 are equivalent to the animal fats they have re- 

 placed. For instance, nut butter, which is now 

 consumed in enormous quantities, is in every way, 

 save in market value alone, absolutely equal to 

 the product of the best dairies, and the leading 

 scientists and hygienists in every country where it 

 is used have, after exhaustive analyses, paid the 

 highest tribute to its excellence. That its popu- 

 larity is increasing daily, among the rich no less 

 than among the poor, is quite obvious from the 



