Climbers on call

Kerala has 180 million coconut trees. The coconuts need to be plucked every 45 days and at least 50,000 tree climbers are required for this, according to the state’s Economics and Statistical Department data. But there is an acute shortage of labourers skilled in the task.

Seize the freshness

Assam on a platter

I have been hooked to Assamese food since school days when a friend took me to her home in Guwahati during vacation. For a perpetually hungry hosteller, the boiled rice paired with yellow lentil seasoned with hot mustard oil spluttered with a bay leaf, which my friend's mother rustled up along with a fish curry called dhangon mas, a small river fish, was the best meal I could have ever had after many half-cooked Maggi-eating sessions. The food was served with aloo pitika, a side dish made of mashed potato, garnished with chopped green chillies and coriander. To this day, I love aloo pitika and since it’s so easy to prepare, I make it frequently to spice up my meal. For dessert, we had home-made coconut ladoos and til pithas(made from sesame).

Fruits of doing nothing

“My major work on the farm is just picking the harvest,” says Raghava with a straight face. It takes some time for the fact to sink in that this young farmer is not joking. One begins to believe him only after visiting his coconut plantation in village Mallanayakanahalli in Karnataka’s Devangere district.

Coconut cousins

COCONUT trees are found across the world and it is said that they played a fundamental role in human migrations and the development of civilisations. So far, nobody has studied the genetic variability in the tree. Now a study of the DNA shows that coconuts have two well-defined and differentiated populations representing two separate locations of cultivation—the Pacific basin and the Indo-Atlantic Ocean basin.

On a coconut trail

Fascinated by a more than liberal use of coconut in south Indian cuisine, Hoihnu Hauzel sets off on a journey to find out what is so special about the fruit

On a coconut trail

In north-eastern part of India food is not dependant on one particular ingredient. It was, therefore, fascinating for me to see people in God's own country obsessed with coconut. They have it gelled on their hair in the form of oil, use it in ayurvedic centres for facial and body massages, drink coconut water early in the morning to clean their system and sip it in the afternoon to beat the heat. The fruit also finds a number of culinary uses. Coconut is scrapped to squeeze milk and used for cooking. The tender portion is used for making a delicious pudding while it can be grated to add taste to dishes.

Fig in coconut sauce

Back to 'Something's Cooking' Fig in coconut sauce  by Sharmila Sinha   This traditional Bengali cuisine made from raw figs is high in energy. It is served to the jamai (son-in-law) on the jamai shosti, which falls in mid-June. The recipe is also an ideal source for various minerals like potassium, magnesium and calcium. It is also an enriching source for vitamin A.  

The catcher in the gene

It was May 2009. S Abdul Rahman at Cumbam village in Tamil Nadu’s Theni district was worried about his coconut plantations. The palm trees were drying at the roots, leaflets were bending and the older leaves were completely dry. These were dreaded symptoms he knew well.

Coconut courier service

It’s early morning. As a speeding passenger bus approaches the Acharya Vihar crossing in Bhubaneswar, a man on the roadside waves a coconut wrapped in a piece of red cloth. The bus screeches to a halt. The conductor hurries down and accepts the fruit. Barely after a kilometre, the bus stops again. This time to collect a bunch of red cloth-wrapped coconuts from a woman. By the time the bus reaches Cuttack, the driver’s cabin is stacked with coconuts.