DESICCATED COCOANUT.

“No, sir, we don’t make cocoanuts,” said a member of a firm whose sign read, “Cocoanut Manufacturing Company,” in response to an inquiry of a reporter for The New York Mail and Express. “What we do is to prepare cocoanut for confectioners, bakers and families, to be used for pies and pastry. The nuts are brought here by the vessel-load, some ships bringing as many as 400,000 in one cargo. They are put up in bags of one hundred each. The average weight of the green nut is one and one-half pounds. The best are those thickest in meat and richest in natural oil and sugar. They come from San Blas, Cow Island, San Andreas, Ruatans, Jamaica, and Baracoa. They grow on the islands of the Caribbean Sea, and the trees are so planted that the roots are constantly washed with salt water. The nuts are not picked from the tree, but fall to the ground when ripe because of the decay of the stems. When the husk is taken off they are ready for shipping. The perishable nature of the green nut has made desiccated cocoanut more desirable in the market, and this is the article we manufacture and sell.”

“What is the operation?”

“The cocoanuts are placed in a large hopper, from which they fall to a zinc-covered table on a lower floor. In front of this table several men are placed, who crack the shell of the nut with a hatchet as it falls on the table. Then the shell is pried off, leaving the meat whole. From six to eleven o’clock six men at this work open twelve thousand nuts. A peeling machine then takes off the brown skin of the nuts, after which the meats are broken into pieces, the milk drawn off, and the pieces put into tubs of clean cold water. The meat is then inspected as to its quality, and next it is put into a grinding mill turning four hundred revolutions a minute. The pulp thus made is mixed with granulated sugar and put in long pans of galvanized iron, which are put in the desiccators and the water extracted at a high temperature. An interesting fact about the work is that the entire process must be completed by two o’clock in the afternoon, because of the delicate nature of the fruit. The desiccated nut is white as snow, and perfectly dry, when it has been through the process, and it is then allowed to cool, and is left in a dry temperature for ten days before it is finally put up for the market. At three o’clock each day the work is all done.”

“What about the idea that cocoanut is indigestible?”

“It is supposed by many persons to be so. But the best growths show by analysis about 48 per cent. of digestible oils, 5 per cent. of sugar, about 46 per cent. of water, and only 1 per cent. of ash. This being the case, there is scarcely anything people eat more digestible and nutritious.”

To Pack Cocoanut.

Buy a grade that is desiccated in sugar by the barrel, known as Baker’s A Grade. It is as good as is usually packed in cans or packages. Pack in cans or paper shells. If in shells line them with wax paper. Fruit jars are useful and handy packages for this purpose. Some manufacturers call 13 ounces 1 pound, and 6½ ozs. a half pound.