Copra

The copra corresponds to the dried endosperm of the Coconut. The flowering of the Cocotier produces a Drupe, a green fruit which contains 5 to 6 nuts and pushes in bunches of 5 or 6, with the armpit of the branches. The nut is surrounded by a thick fibrous envelope from 5 to 15 cm called Péricarpe. Under this envelope, a thin very hard brown hull is, which contains the Albumen - a milky liquid white that one calls water of coconut and which progressively transforms into flesh maturation of the fruit. It is the nut itself or copra.

Culture of the coconut

The germinated coconuts are planted little deeply in a rich ground added with a good quantity of sand salted preferably. The Cocotier request approximately 1,5 cubic meter of water per annum in other words does not require watering, except if the dry season extends beyond 3 months. The plantation is possible all the year even if it is to better avoid the dry season. The coconut produces its first fruits between its sixth and eighth year during fifty to seventy years in normal growth, if it does not undergo degradations. The exposure and brittleness of the Atoll S vis-a-vis the bad weather seldom make it possible to reach this age.

Harvest

To the maturity of coconuts, they fall on the ground. Sometimes the owner anticipates this stage of growth and harvest itself by detaching them from the tree. Gathered, the manual operation of Détrocage of dried endosperm is carried out. This extracted flesh is dried with the sun until the quasi total disappearance of its water content which should not exceed 6%, to obtain copra. Copra is then gathered in bags which are weighed before their sale.

In French Polynesia, these bags are conveyed by cargo liner towards PAPEETE where the “Oil mill of Tahiti is”.

Use

Copra is used with manufacture as oil used on the one hand in the human consumption, for the clothes industry of Margarine, and on the other hand in the manufacture of Savon and Cosmétique S, in particular of the Monoï in partnership with the flower of Tiaré.

Not to confuse…

Oil derived from copra is not the same thing as the coconut oil, although confusion is frequently made. The coconut oil is obtained starting from the unit pulps + milk, and it keeps the odor characteristic of coconut.

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