About Coconut and Plantain

Coconut Sapling

Cocunut Tree
Plantain plant with flower


PlantainPlant with old shoot cut off

Lunch on Plantain leaf
This is just to make you know more about the two importanat items in the religious functions

Plantain leaves
Lunch from Karnataka served on a plantain leaf. Traditionally plantain leaves are used like plates in several dishes, such as Venezuelan Hallacas, while serving south Indian Thali or during sadya. A traditional south Indian meal is served on a plantain leaf with the position of the different food items on the leaf having a significant importance. They also have a religious significance in many Hindu rituals. They add a subtle but essential aroma to the dish. The leaves are fairly widely available in grocery stores or open air markets in Venezuela and can exceed two meters in length. They are also used to stimulate appetite as a fragrant smell is given off when hot food is placed on top of the leaf. In Nicaragua they wrap their Nacatamales and also used for their Vigoron, Vaho and other dishes. In Peru they are often use to wrap the famous Tamale (Tamales). In Honduras, Costa Rica, Panama, and Colombia, these are usually used to wrap tamales before and while cooking, and they can be used to wrap any kind of seasoned meat while cooking to keep the flavor in. In the Dominican Republic, the plantain is the country's main food source and is used just as much if not, more than rice. Mangu and Sancocho are two signature dishes that revolve around the plantain.
Plantain leaves are similar to banana leaves but are larger and stronger, therefore reducing waste. They are lightly smoked over an open fire and this adds to their toughness, their storage properties and the flavour they give. With plantain leaves there is a lot less disposal (pieces too small to use) than with banana leaves, which makes them a better choice.
Plantain shoot
The plantain will only fruit once. After harvesting the fruit, the plantain plant can be cut and the layers peeled (like an onion) to get a cylinder shaped soft shoot. This can be chopped and first steamed, then fried with masala powder, to make an excellent dish.
Coconut
Coconut In Traditional MedicinePeople from many diverse cultures, languages, religions, and races scattered around the globe have revered the coconut as a valuable source of both food and medicine. Wherever the coconut palm grows the people have learned of its importance as a effective medicine. For thousands of years coconut products have held a respected and valuable place in local folk medicine.In traditional medicine around the world coconut is used to treat a wide variety of health problems including the following: abscesses, asthma, baldness, bronchitis, bruises, burns, colds, constipation, cough, dropsy, dysentery, earache, fever, flu, gingivitis, gonorrhea, irregular or painful menstruation, jaundice, kidney stones, lice, malnutrition, nausea, rash, scabies, scurvy, skin infections, sore throat, swelling, syphilis, toothache, tuberculosis, tumors, typhoid, ulcers, upset stomach, weakness, and wounds.
Nearly all parts of the coconut palm are useful, and the palms have a comparatively high yield, up to 75 fruits per year; it therefore has significant economic value. The name for the coconut palm in Sanskrit is kalpa vriksha, which translates as "the tree which provides all the necessities of life". In Malay, the coconut is known as pokok seribu guna, "the tree of a thousand uses". In the Philippines, the coconut is commonly given the title "Tree of Life its theorised that if you were to become stranded on a desert island populated by palm trees, you could survive purely on the tree and coconut alone, as the coconut provides all of the required natural properties for survival.