News of The Abacos

Coconuts
By Jim Kerr Abaco Life Editor

Giant, deep green fronds sway in the gentle breeze and a shady spot on the beach is dappled by sunbeams that come glittering through. A soaring, branchless trunk rises above the sand and disappears into a jungle of its own brown vegetation and greenery that rustles with a tune so sweet you sigh, close your eyes and drift off into a tropical reverie.

THUD!

You hear it hit the beach, breaking the tranquil moment. It's roughly the size of a green football with ridges. And yes, there are several similar objects nearby which have fallen from this same source. It's a coconut. Dangerous as a bowling ball if it falls on your head, a harmless curiosity if it doesn't, and a tasty source of saturated fat oh so bad, yet oh so good if you can get at it with a hammer, a knife or, better still, a hatchet. Lacking such tools at hand, you may want to take it home and make something delicious - albiet loaded with cholesterol - out of it for breakfast, lunch, dinner or especially dessert.

Abaco has thousands of coconut palm trees and maybe millions of coconuts. The trees are the essence of tropical beauty, the stuff of picture postcards and the fodder of advertising campaigns. They sway with beckoning arms along almost every beach in Abaco, especially populated areas, because somebody planted them there. Coconut palms are not native to the Bahamas, having reached these shores by some human effort or natural phenomenon. It is said that Lucayan and Arawak Indians brought coconuts in their ocean-going canoes from the Southern Caribbean and even South America. They were a great source of lasting nourishment and drinkable liquid. And once depleted of their own nutrients, the shells could be used to carry more water, or used as tools.

Whole coconuts happily germinate in the warm sand of Abaco's myriad beaches. Some drifted ashore from distant lands or ships; others were planted or simply discarded on or near the shore. But wherever a coconut palm begins, baby trees are sure to follow, and a single tree soon becomes a strand or grove of trees with hundreds of exotic fronds waving and rustling in the tradewinds.

The coconut palm has become almost a cliche. Every TV ad, every brochure, every enticing photo presentation hyping a tropical island vacation contains at least one depiction of a coconut palm tree. Here we see a verdant strand of palms lining the recesses of a white sand beach. There we see two palm trees supporting a hammock (sometimes empty, sometimes with a pretty girl or amorous couple, depending on what the producer imagined would appeal most to the beholder).

Whether you are viewing a brochure or the real thing, however, the hypnotic enticement is real, and in Abaco so are the trees. For the past several decades, people here have been busily and passionately planting and cultivating coconut palms, or simply allowing the nuts to take root wherever they please. At Spanish Cay in the northern part of Abaco, millionaire Clint Murchison, one-time owner of the Dallas Cowboys, planted hundreds of them on his private island in the 1960s. The trees have proliferated on beaches that now seem straight out of central casting for "South Pacific." More recently, Bill Herrington planted 150 disease-resistant hybrids on his property at Munjack Cay just north of Green Turtle Cay. Abaco's coconut palms, while not devastated as in South Florida and some Caribbean islands, were significantly depleted in the 1970s by "Lethal Yellowing," an insect-borne malady that was staved off in part by injections of the antibiotic Tetraclycline.

Thousands of other hybrid coconut palms were brought into Abaco by other property owners and today many resorts boast a high density of palms, including the Guana Beach Resort on Guana Cay, the Lofty Fig, Conch Inn and Great Abaco Beach Resort in Marsh Harbour, Treasure Cay Resort and the Hope Town Harbour Lodge, to name a few.

Many communities off the beaten track, including Little Harbour and Sandy Point, have also become residential havens for hundreds of coconut palms. Tahiti Beach at the south end of Elbow Cay lives up to its South Pacific namesake, and at Bahama Palm Shores south of Marsh Harbour the community's name is more than appropriate. Here, on any given weekend, it is not uncommon to see Abaco residents harvesting coconuts from the hundreds of trees that grow along the roads. Others scour trash piles or neighbors' yards (with permission, of course) for culinary needs and craft material. Abaco artisans make dolls, toys and other items out of the brown, hairy husks of mature coconuts fallen on the beach or along the road.

There is never a shortage of randomly or intentionally felled coconuts in Abaco. To prevent an accident, gardeners routinely strip the heavy, rippening nuts from the trees before they land on some unexpecting vacationer. Meanwhile, if left alone in sandy soil, a leafy shoot will soon appear from the hard but decaying shell. A sprouting nut can produce a tree two to three feet high within a year and from 15 to 20 feet in five years.

In Abaco, however, thousands of coconuts never get the chance. Instead they fall into the hands of bakers, chefs, craftspersons and other entrepeneurs. The soft and somewhat slimy inside of a "Jelly Coconut," which is green on the outside, sometimes becomes the main ingredient of ice cream or "Coconut Jimmy," a poor man's native dessert made from yeast dough boiled with coconut filling. The finely grated meat inside the brown, dry coconut often plays the starring role in coconut pie, coconut tort and coconut rice.

"There are a million things you can do with fresh coconut," says Terell Russell, who owns the Flour House Bakery in Marsh Harbour with wife, Leona. "Most of my coconut recipes and knowledge was handed down to me by my mother and grandmother, with the rest coming from lots of experimenting until I got it right."

Vernon Malone, whose "Pies Are Us" bakery is adjacent to his grocery in Hope Town, is well-known for coconut treats. His recipe for coconut pie calls for fresh coconut. He splits brown, mature coconuts with a hatchet, digs out the white meat with a screwdriver, then shreds it finely. He won't divulge the exact recipe, given to him by a Nassau lady contingent on secrecy, but he uses only Canadian flour, mixing lots of fresh coconut with eggs, sugar, vanilla and spices.

"You can definitely taste the fresh coconut, and the pies are not as sweet as some," he says. "I'm amazed at the number of people who don't use the real thing. For one thing, it's more profitable than buying the packaged stuff in the store."

Also much more time-consuming. Generally, bartenders do not take time to blend fresh coconut into drinks, nor do many Abaco restaurants use it often in coconut flavoured dishes. But if you want the real thing - in some restaurant entrees as well as locally-prepared desserts - it's around. Billy Thompson has given up selling his homemade ice cream from a truck, but you can still buy his fresh coconut ice cream (among other flavours) at several places around Marsh Harbour. Coconut cream pies from fresh coconuts are also available from bakeries. Just remember, coconut is loaded with saturated fat which, combined with egg yolks, butter and whipping cream, can add up to a recipe for heart disease disaster for those watching their cholesterol.

One might be safer lying under a coconut palm overburdened with ripening nuts, but with moderation in mind, here are a few recipes from Abaco sources which will give you something more to think about when you see those swaying fronds:

Jelly Coconut Ice Cream

6 jelly coconuts
3 cans sweetened condensed milk
3 cans evaporated milk

Remove coconut from shell and mash.
Combine with sweetened milk and evaporated milk.
Freeze in 6 Qt. hand or electric freezer, using 3 parts ice to one part rock salt.

From Fran Woolley's "Abaco Cooks" cook book

Coconut Curry Rice

Grate one half a dry coconut, add chutney, tomatoes, onions, curry powder, hot peppers and a dash of nutmeg. Sautee down with white rice.

From the Flour House Bakery and Cafe, Marsh Harbour

Spicy Coconut Fried Shrimp

1 fresh coconut
16 peeled and deveined large shrimp
One half cup breadcrumbs
2 eggs, beaten
One half cup half & half
Cayenne pepper

Punch holes in the eyes of the nut and drain liquid. Place nut in 350 degree oven for 10-15 minutes until shell cracks. Scoop out inside flesh with butter knife. Combine half cup of shredded fresh coconut with bread crumbs. Combine beaten eggs, half & half and cayenne pepper. Dip shrimp in batter mixture, roll in breadcrumb mixture until evenly coated. Fry in hot oil until lightly brown. Serve with dipping sauce of choice. Serves two as entree.

From Mangoes Restaurant, Marsh Harbour

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