Fruitful history

Robin Laurance describes coconut in the subtitle of his book on the subject as the shy fruit. But this is one fruit, containing clean sweet water for drinking and a soft kernel for healthy eating, that sustained seafaring explorers in their voyages of discovery of unknown lands and trade through centuries. In the late 13th century, the Venetian merchant, explorer and writer Marco Polo spotted coconuts in India. So enamoured was he of the fruit that would quench thirst and also offer tender kernel to whet the appetite that he described it as “Pharaoh’s Nut” containing both “meat and drink”. 

Not only did Portuguese explorer Vasco da Gama see clusters of coconuts hanging from palm trees on the west coast of India and the east coast of Africa, but the fruit that he introduced in the Cape Verde archipelago in the Atlantic Ocean flourishes till today. Mr Laurance writes that the coconut palm tree can prosper in sandy soil backed by daytime temperature above 25 degree centigrade, high humidity, plenty of rain and sunlight. In many places across the globe where these conditions prevail, farmers are drawn to palm tree-growing for economic considerations. An extra incentive for growers is that a five-year old tree will start producing fruit. 

Good words from early explorers about the fruit staying in shape over long periods and in rough environment led sailors and merchants to make it a point to keep good quantities of coconuts in the holds and decks of ships. In times when the sea would turn rough making voyages to destinations extra long, seafarers would find salvation in the fruit. Mr Laurance has done well to recount that what finally triggered the mutiny on the Royal Naval vessel HMS Bounty was Captain William Bligh taking strong exception to the crew stealing coconuts, including the ones he kept for himself.

Not only did the inter-continental journey of the fruit and its subsequent plantation in new places with favourable climate occur courtesy seafarers, but the extraordinarily resilient coconuts carried by ocean currents also moved from one place to another. Over many centuries before plant biology developed into a branch of science, the history of the coconut became interwoven with adventures of mariners and independent journeys of the fruit without human intervention. The basic assumption then was because it was schlepped by merchants of yore and movement of the ocean currents, biologists had doubts about finding a geographical structure to coconut genetics. But to the surprise of plant evolutionary biologist Kenneth M Olsen, who put a large number of coconuts grown in different parts of the world to DNA test, he found two very distinctive coconut kinds. Originally, the fruit was brought under cultivation in the Pacific and Indian Ocean basins. What is particularly interesting is that prehistoric trade routes remain preserved in coconut genetics.  Mr Laurance says “coconuts have been around longer than homo sapiens.” While where exactly on earth the first coconut palm tree germinated remains a subject of conjecture, he tells us: “The oldest coconut fossils, found in Gujarat... date back to the Eocene period some 37 million years ago.” 

From the early history of the shy fruit to how its derivative coconut oil, derived from milling of copra, proved to be the foundation for today’s Anglo-Dutch global giant Lever Brothers and the US-based multinational Procter & Gamble. The worldwide reputation of Hershey’s Mounds and Mars’ Bounty bars filled with shredded coconut and encased in chocolate is one more example of the nut’s contribution to business success. The book tells us scientists from 35 countries, including India involved in the International Thermonuclear Experimental Reactor project have found charcoal made from coconut shell “super-efficient in capturing the unwanted helium.” 

Discussion on the venerable nut will not be complete unless mention is made of coconut’s role in religious ceremonies of the Hindus, Buddhists and Jains. Uses of coconut oil in Ayurvedic medicines date back to 3,500 years. There are no disagreements among experts about healing properties of coconut charcoal. But the health benefits claimed for coconut oil do not pass modern scientific scrutiny. The health-related claims for coconut oil lead Mr Laurance to say that if these were true then “everyone’s maiden aunt would live arthritis-free to 100 without the slightest fear of contracting Alzheimer’s”. 

Mr Laurance is disappointed that painters through ages have shown “surprisingly little enthusiasm” for palm tree or coconut. He doesn’t forget to mention two notable exceptions to this lapse. One is Paul Gauguin’s Thatched Hut Under Palm Trees  and Frida Kahlo’s Weeping Coconuts.  Expectedly, in a whole long chapter “For God and Country,” the author discusses coconut’s role in the economy of Kerala and how religious belief has secured for the nut a permanent place in spiritual India. The legendary editor of The Times  Sir Peter Stothard has described Laurance’s work as “a bounty of a book.” The book is about a fruit that over the centuries has become a global commodity. Mr Laurance’s capacity to tell a good story with rich anecdotes makes the book refreshing.