COCONUTS 61 



stearic portions of the oil may easily be separated as is the 

 case with many other oils. Coconut oil is obtained from 

 the dried copra by pressure. For food purposes only cold 

 pressed oil is used, while hot pressed oil is used for soaps, 

 candles, and various other purposes. The present methods 

 actually recover 60 to 65 per cent, of the weight of copra in 

 oil. The new style of hydraulic presses leave only about two 

 per cent, of the oil in the pressed cake or poonac. Coconut 

 meal usually contains 8 to 12 per cent, of fat and 18 or 19 

 per cent, of protein. It is an excellent stock feed, as shown by 

 the numerous experiments which have been carried on in the 

 United States and elsewhere. In feeding experiments in India, 

 where coconut meal is called poonac, equally satisfactory re- 

 sults have been obtained. 



The world's supply of desiccated shredded coconut comes 

 almost entirely from Ceylon. The supply of this product is 

 now about 31,500,000 pounds annually, and a large percentage 

 of it is used in the United States. In making desiccated 

 shredded coconut the best mature nuts are selected. These 

 nuts are cured for about three weeks, then cracked, and the 

 meat removed while fresh. The brown skin on the surface 

 of the meat is scraped off, the meat is immediately shredded, 

 and then dried in hot-air ovens at a temperature of 160° F. 

 The product is sorted according to the length of the shreds or 

 strips and is packed in tea boxes or other packages containing 

 about 130 pounds each. One laborer will crack about 5,000 

 nuts a day. 



In preparing coir, or coconut fiber, the husks are retted in 

 tanks of water or steamed until they become soft. They are 

 then beaten and dried and the broken powdery waste material 

 is separated from the coir fiber by hand or machinery. The 

 fiber is carded by special machines, washed, dried, again 

 carded, this time by hand, sorted, and baled. Coir fiber from 

 old nuts is dark brown, but from young nuts the fiber is lighter 

 in color. It cannot be artificially bleached without causing 



