Coconut Water

The big multi-nationals have not been slow in embracing the profit potential and both Coca-Cola and Pepsi have invested heavily in the drink, the latter even buying up coconut plantations to obtain the water from source. Even Madonna has invested $1.5m into Vita Coca - a company with a brand image aimed directly at the young and successful - and has hired Rihanna to be the fresh, cool, globally recognised face to promote it.

All natural fruit has health-giving benefits, and coconut water is no exception, and as with everything should be taken in moderation. Coconut water has diuretic and laxative properties, and too much could cause the drinker to unwittingly emulate Rihanna's remarkable dance choreography without the music (I have learned this to my cost, although my dance routines were more Gervais than Gaga).

Coconut water emanates from young coconut (known as buko in the Philippines), and not to be confused with coconut milk. Unlike an orange or pineapple for example, a coconut passes through many stages of development, and each one has a purpose. Hence the term of the coconut tree as the tree of life.

Whilst there appears no evident ecological signs that plantations solely designated for young coconut production is detrimental, it is a shocking waste of a sustainable fruit with so many aspects and uses.

The shell of the young coconut is not easily biodegradable. After the water is removed there is a limited amount of edible membranous, almost translucent flesh, and in the Philippines is used as the filling for Buko Pie.

The young buko has not had a chance to grow to maturity, so copra cannot be garnered, nor coir (used as a first class fertilizer), nor can the meat be desiccated or used as main ingredients for cooking, or cosmetics or oil. Copra can be made into mats and brushes and has a host of other uses. The husk of coconuts can also be a valuable heating source, and coconut husk charcoal is a cheap fuel. None of this can be created from a young coconut.

A mature coconut can become a "macapuno", an especially prized nut of which only 10% appear in a harvest. This attracts a higher price, and most plantation growers hope for a fair share from a tree every 40 days (for an example of my typical day coconut harvesting, please click here).

It takes 10,000 nuts for 2,000 litres of coconut water. On average it will need five nuts per litre, and much may be lost in the production and packaging process. That’s a lot of wastage. But it’s still a huge profit for the companies who have invested in the plant and machinery, or the middle men and marketers.

The big question is how are the small independent growers fairing, and are they paid a decent share?

Furthermore, none of the big three companies appear to endorse their product as fair trade or organic.

Many commodities like tea, coffee and orange juice have fair-trade symbols on them, but I don't see any on coconut water.

In the UK 1ltr of coconut water is retailing at the equivalent of $4.85. This equates to $1 per nut. In the Philippines 40% of the population struggle to live on that every day.

I can sell a young coconut, straight from the tree, for 5 pesos ($0.11c), but if it was juiced, packaged, transported and retailed in the UK it would have been marked up to a massive 1100%.

I suspect that many small producers are being paid much less by volume, but leveraged and influenced by the big boys. Just like supermarkets behave when dealing with farmers and small-holders regardless of crop.

Is it any wonder that plantation after plantation from South-east Asia to South America are growing young coconuts on an industrial scale and only for water?

Indigenous people always knew the benefits of coconut water, but drank it sustainably and not to impact on the agri-management of a tree. A tree which lives for 100 years, and barring natural disasters like typhoons, serves a family and community. Nuts are also taken to germinate to ensure continuity. It takes seven years just to get them going.

Coconut trees are crucial to the flora and fawna of a fragile eco-system. The desire of western consumers and the ever-increasing search for profit by big business may have a very negative impact in years to come. Rainforests are disappearing before our very eyes due to logging and land required for cattle grazing. Now coconut plantations are being attacked and violated. This is a high price to pay for a lifestyle drink.

How does this effect local farmers? How does it effect local communities? How does the drive to produce coconut water impact on people dependent on coconuts for bi-products and other derivatives to sell in the market place?

Anyway, next time you have a sip of the nectar, think about the nut who grew the nut. One of them might have been me.

Fortunately that is unlikely. I value my nuts too much to contemplate premature castration!

On the store shelves in Australia are young coconuts. Not in a carton, but natural. Here the buko has been semi-husked. The green skin has been removed, but the shell is intact. Within the shell is the sealed coconut water. More than that, it will also have the delicate flesh inside.

This is not everyones typical image of a coconut, but this is the young buko. These coconuts come from Thailand, and are as close as one can get to it's most natural state without picking it directly from the tree.

They retail much less than the commercially packaged one litre cartons, but they are clearly not very portable. They can't fit inside the fridge door for example.

But with a simple incision in the top, the juice can be extracted, and they are very easy to open to get at the flesh within. The flesh of the young coconut is a delicacy - and cannot be experienced by the mass marketed coconut water espoused by the big producers - something which they fail to highlight on their packaging.

This is a much more sustainable method of delivery. As they are shipped from Thailand so their carbon footprint is smaller.

They have not been through a mechanised plant process. But let's face it - they don't have the kudos of the big brand image with the associated celebrity. Nevertheless, they will be fresher and tastier.

What's important here is that it is a simple healthy product without any complicated technology to produce.

They are not all singing and dancing. They are just nuts. Whether the growers receive their just rewards or not - this is clearly the most environmentally friendly and natural way to drink the water outside of the tropics.