young coconuts and fungicide

[lane]

Drinking the water from a young coconut (and eating the meat) was a daily ritual that I looked forward to until reading a thread a while back about young coconuts being dipped in sodium bisulfite before being shipped. I have debated whether to quit buying them, or ignore the information- feeling good that the rest of my food is chemical free. However, I haven't been able to truly enjoy one since- with the thought of my daughter and I drinking fungicide every time we open one. Does anybody have any good information regarding this subject. Any sources of (young) coconuts that have not been treated- or haven't been removed from their shell (if they commercially exist?)
Thanks!
cc

[Im2Fruity]

Awww I hope that's not true I just had my first young coconut today and it was amazing..

[rawnora]

I've heard this too, and I don't know whether it's a rumor or not, but I did a little experiment a couple months ago to find out if any liquid that a coconut is dipped into, or sprayed with, would contaminate the meat and water. I immersed three young coconuts in very dark blue dyed water, one for 90 minutes, one for 20 minutes and one for 90 seconds. I put heavy objects on top of them so they stayed under the whole time. I allowed them to dry naturally and sit overnight and opened them the next day. Not only did the dye not penetrate to the meat and water, it didn't even go more than a millimeter under the husk. If it's true that young coconuts are treated, there is no need to fear that whatever they're treated with will be in the edible parts. The shell of a coconut is very hard and dense, and the fruit and liquid inside are among the purest foods you can eat. I hope this allays your fears. :)

Best wishes,
Nora
www.RawSchool.com

[Gosia]

Phew, thanks Nora. I love young coconuts so much. :)

Gosia

[rawpriestess]

WOW, Rawnora, what a brilliant idea, I am SOOOOOO glad that you did this, I will now try one of these beauties, I've been eating the dark brown ones, and I love them soooooo much.

[Cinnamon]

Thank you Nora for letting us know about your experiment, excellent idea! I love young coconuts and have maybe one per week. Maybe I'll increase that amount, they sure make a wonderful chocolate pudding and also a raw Pina Colada is just the best.

[Sheryl]

Fresh coconuts rock!!!

See if you can talk local stores into bringing some from Florida. You would have gorgeous fresh ones in the Southern USA. They are SOOO much nicer than the Thai ones.

Personally after eating many fresh ones, then Thai ones just don't taste fresh or good.

Cheers,
Sheryl

[lane]

thank you everyone for your responses.

nora, that does put my mind at ease- thanks. i do, however, remember somebody else writing (on the last related thread) about doing that same experiment with red dye, and claiming that both the meat and water were pink when she opened it...i think i will try it myself and go with that.

sheryl, i have tried talking a couple of local markets into bringing some from florida in- they both said that they would have a hard time selling, even though i offered to buy them all. if i can find a good, reliable source, i wouldn't mind buying a few myself.

cc

[rawnora]

Lane,
I suspect that this person took the naturally pinkish or purplish hue that some young coconuts have as a sign that the red dye had penetrated. I think the pinkish color may be a sign of decomposition, but I'm not sure. Or it might be a sign of immaturity because it seems like I've only found that pinkish color in those that have a small amount of jelly-like flesh. In any case, if you do the experiment, it's best to use several coconuts, and buy from a source where you usually get good ones ("good" being defined as having at least 1/4" or so of pure white meat, and clear, uncolored water). From my experiment, I can't see any possible way that dye could penetrate to the inner edible parts of a coconut unless it was cracked. Only the outermost skin of the husk absorbed the dye. Good luck!

Nora
www.RawSchool.com

[RawFoodieMom]

THANKS NORA!!! Thanks so much for doing this experiment and sharing your results, that's awesome. :)

As for the PINK, from what I've noticed, the coconuts water and flesh turn pink when they start to go bad. I would think that's what happened with the red dye experiment.

Debra