Edible Products. 



308 



[April 1908. 



Coconut oil was once used extensively 

 in the manufacture of fine candles, and 

 is still occasionally in demand for this 

 purpose in the Philippines, in combin- 

 ation with the vegetable tallow of a 

 species of StUUngia. It is largely con- 

 sumed in lamps, made of a tumbler or 

 drinking glass half filled with water, on 

 top of which float a few spoonfuls of oil, 

 into which the wick is plunged. In 

 remote barrios it is still in general use as 

 a street illuminant, and so perfect is its 

 combustion that under a constant flicker 

 it emits little or no smoke. 



When freshly expressed, the oil is an 

 exceptionally good cooking fat, and 

 enters largely into the dietary of our 

 own people. The medicinal uses of the 

 oil are various, and in the past it has 

 been strongly advocated for the cure of 

 eczema, burns, as a vermifuge, and even 

 as a substitute for cod-liver oil in 

 phthisis. Its medicinal virtues are now 

 generally discredited, except as a restor- 

 ative agent in the loss of hair resulting 

 from debilitating fevers. Its value in 

 this direction may be sui mised from the 

 splendid heads of hair possessed by the 

 Filipino women, who generally use the 

 oil as a hair dressing. 



Coconut oil is derived from the fleshy 

 albumen or meat of the ripe fruit, either 

 fresh or dried. The thoroughly dried 

 meat is variously known as copra, coprax, 

 and copraz. The exportation of copra is 

 delriuieutal to the best interests of 

 the planter, tending to enrich the manu- 

 facturer and impoverish the grower. 

 The practice, however, is so firmly estab- 

 lished that the writer can only record a 

 probably futile protest against its con- 

 tinuance. 



The causes which for a long time will 

 favour the exportation of copra instead 

 of oil in this Archipelago may be briefly 

 stated as follows t— 



(1) An oil-milling plant, constructed 

 with due regard to economy of labour 

 and the production of the best quality 

 of oil. would involve an outlay of capital 

 of §2,500, gold, and upward, according 

 to capacity. The production of copra 

 requires the labor of the planter's hands 

 only. 



(2; The oil packages must be well- 

 made barrels, casks, or metallic recep- 

 tacles. The initial cost of the packages is 

 consequently great, their return from 

 distant ports impracticable, and their 

 sale value in the market of delivery is 

 not sufficient to offset the capital locked 

 up in an unproductive form. On the 

 other hand, copra may be sold or shipped 

 in boxes, bags, sacks, and bales, or it 

 may even be stored in bulk in the ship's 

 hold, 



(3) When land transportation has to 

 be considered, the lack of good roads 

 still further impedes the oil maker. He 

 cannot change the size and weight of 

 his packages from day to day to meet 

 the varying passability of the trail. On 

 the other hand, packages of copra may 

 be adjusted to meet all emergencies, and 

 the planter can thus take advantage of 

 the market conditions which may be 

 denied to the oil maker. 



(4) Perhaps the most serious difficulty 

 the oil maker has to contend with is 

 the continuous discouragement he en- 

 counters from the agent of foreign 

 factories, who buys in the open market, 

 and, bidding up to nearly the full oil 

 value of the copra, finds an ample manu- 

 facturer's profit paid by the pressed 

 cake, so valuable abroad, but, unfor- 

 tunately, practically without sale or 

 value here. The residue from the mill 

 may be utilized both for food and for 

 manure by the oil-maker who is a tree 

 owner and who maintains cattle. For 

 either of these purposes its value rates 

 closely up to cotton seed cake, and the 

 time is not remote when it will be re- 

 cognized in the Philippines as far too 

 valuable a product to be permitted to 

 be removed from the farm excepting at a 

 price which will permit of the purchase at 

 Jess figure of an equivalent in manure. 

 So active are the copra-buying agents in 

 controlling this important branch of the 

 industry, that they refuse to buy the 

 press cake at any price, with the result 

 thai, in two in-t,auces known to the 

 writer, thay have forced the closure of 

 oil-milling plants and driven the oil- 

 maker back to his copia. 



Many copra-making plants in India and 

 Ceylon are now supplied with decorti- 

 cating, breaking, and evaporating ma- 

 chinery. The process employed in this 

 Archipelago consists in first stripping the 

 ripe fruit of the outer fibrous husk. This 

 is effected by means of a stout, steel spear 

 head, who*e shaft or shank is embedded 

 firmlyin the soil to such a depth that the 

 spear point projects above the ground 

 rather less than waist high. The 

 operator then holds the nut in his hands 

 and strikes it upon the spear point, gives 

 it a downward, rotary twist, and thus, 

 with apparent ease, quickly removes the 

 husk. An average operator will husk 

 1,000 nuts per day, and records have been 

 made of a clean-up of as many as 8,000 

 per day. The work, however, is exceed- 

 ingly hard, and involve great dexterity 

 and wrist strength. 



Another man now takes tip the nut 

 and with a bolo strikes it a smart blow 

 in the middle, dividing into two almost 

 equal parts. These parts are spread out 



