Montgomery County sentinel. [volume] (Rockville, Md.) 1855-1974, 1899-03-31
COCOANUTS IN CUBA.
THEY GROW RAPIDLY AND ENTIRELY
WITHOUT Gull TIvATiON.

Delicious Flavor Of tho MIN DruAk
Where the Nut GrOws-Aitossthsr Dif-
forSnt From Those That Come NORTH
Excellent For InvAlids.
Next to bananas the most important
product OF eastern Cuba is cocoanuts.
The trees grow rapidly. without Guilt
walton, and every mans field IL fringed
with them.
The Cuban process OF extracting oil
from the cocoanut resembles that by
which Texans make oil from cotton
seed. The cake OF solid residue Ia fed
to the pigs-about the only live stock
ever successfully raised In eastern Cuba
and the shells are used for fuel In tho
sugar factories. So far the oil has been
locally employed only as a lubricator
for sugar-making machinery--a wicked
waste OF valuable material II seems to
those who are familiar with the SPLEEN
did possibilities OF the product.
The saying goes that cocoanut tree
bears a nut for every day In the year.
In time OF peace one might buy u dozen
nuts for IA 20-cent coin anywhere In the
rural districts of Cuba. and he who has
never tasted the milk from one freshly
gathered can have no idea what IL
meant by "a draught 1T for the gods"
In their proper state, however, the
nuts are not brown and hard. as you
see them In northern markets; they
look like enormous pale-green apples,
slightly elongated. for each still wears
Its Robin Hood jacket, which Is re-
moved before shipment Being still
alive" as they say on the island. Its
shell Is soft and easily cut with the
machete. or long bladed knife. which
every countryman carries, or your own
pocket knife may answer the purpose.
Make a hole in one end OF the nut about
the size OF a half dollar, and out gushes
the milk like a living spring, not by
any means such sour stun as you have
seen come out OF the cocoanuts at home |
white as chalk and thick az butter
milk.
The trouble Is that the cocoanuts OF
commerce are gathered before they are
ripe and entirely spoiled In transit.
The fluid s..aG within 1t should have
no suggestion OF milk. but be colorless
as water, with slight sparkle like that
from some clear mountain spring. ex-
cept for a slightly sweet and most
delicious favor and IL freshly picked
in the early morning. after the nut has
been swinging all night in the cool
broezes, the liquid is almost Ice cold.
Where cocOannts grow You never see
inside OF their shells any Of that hard.
white layer which northeners crate ana
desiccate Zone might as well say desc
crate). for In It's best estate the nut has
no such substance only creamy white
film inside OF II. hardly thicker than
your thumb nail, which Is scraped on
with a spoon when eaten. Before drink
ing the juice the tenderfoot generally |
pours It out into another vessel than
that which Nature intended; but tho |
sophisticated epicure Tits the cocoanut |
at just the right angle to let the milk |
tr.ckle gently down his throat--and,
like the older topper we have heard OF, |
he wishes his throat were mile long.
There is nothing In the Wide world |
more nourishing or fattening, more |
health restoring and youth preserving.
Emaciated inValids are recommended
to begin on the juice Of half dozen
nuts day, the dose to be Increased &C
cOrdlng to the patients inclination.
And the invalid is yet to be discovered
who does not develop a taste for 1t 10
rapidly that In a weeks time half a
dozen nuts at a single sitting will hard
ly satisfy him. Each full-grown nut
contains nearly pint Of this true
fountain OF youth"-the same, per-
haps, which the old Conquistadores
sought vainly far and wide. expecting
to find It gushing out Of the earth In
some sequestered spot. instead Of hang
ing. green and beautiful, everywhere
overhead.