Coconuts!

This is not really a full post, but rather a quick anecdote.

So I have finally been trying to get serious about eating organically and avoiding all the chemicals and hormones etc involved in “big-agra” / “big-agro” (industrial agriculture). As part of that, I have been growing increasingly squeamish about commercially produced meat, to the point where I can no longer bring myself to buy it, looking instead for vegetable protein alternatives.
I have read that coconuts can supply all protein needs. In fact, I once read/heard somewhere that apparently coconuts by themselves can provide someone’s complete nutritional needs, except for vitamin C!

So when I was recently in a natural/organic shop, I grabbed the chance to buy two organic mature coconuts (with brown husk and hard shell). Looking at them from the outside, they looked fine. I noticed a very faint trace of mould on the eyes of one of the coconuts, but this can be standard with tropical fruits; I have also sometimes noticed it on the stalk of pineapples, for instance, when they have been transported over long distances.
The one test I have for checking freshness of coconuts is to shake them to hear the coconut water inside them, because I know that it is possible for older coconuts to go dry. So there I was shaking away, and both coconuts seemed to be full of coconut water. So I went ahead to buy them.

Needless to say, when at home I finally managed to open them, both were bad. One of the coconuts was completely rotten within the shell. The other coconut looked OK, but the flesh was slightly bitter rather than sweet as coconuts should be, and I had a slightly upset tummy after eating some (although that could have been caused by sipping the coconut water from the first completely bad nut. Note to self – next time, fully open the coconut before drinking the water!)

I thought to myself: “Well there is an analogy!” I thought that just like with these coconuts, so it can be with spouses. You can do your best to check that they are good etc, only to eventually discover how unattractive and utterly unpalatable they are on the inside. I guess that begs the question: “Is there any way to conclusively tell that a coconut is fresh/bad before purchase?” Regarding spouses, that is exactly the question that this entire blog is all about, of course! 😉

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PHOTO CREDITS
Photo of (properly fresh!) coconut from Pixabay
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