The two basic items necessary to sustain life are sunshine and coconut milk.
-Dustin Hoffman
A fruit, a nut, and seed! Rough on the outside and tender on the inside, the coconut, including the whole palm is known for its versatility of uses ranging from organic beauty products and delicious healthy dishes to sustainable brooms and brushes. It’s rich in nutrients preventing certain diseases, benefiting the skin in many ways and also the fact that it is biodegradable makes healthy for our homes as well. Moreover, the best part of growing them is that they don’t require pesticides or herbicides, and can be harvested by hand.
So, let’s show some respect for this amazing tropical crop and check out some wonderful eco- friendly products that extract and make the best use from different parts of it!
Coconut Aroma
For a sweet and clean fragrance of coconut that brings an exotic ambiance in your home or space, Moondance’s Coconut Incense is a premium quality incense that is chemical-free with a strong scent but low smoke output. An aroma so exotic that you can smell the sticks before being lit!
Made from 100% natural soy wax, the fusion of summer scents in the Coconut and Lime Wine Bottle Candle from Mojo Candle Co. is a refreshing fragrance that transports you to a tropical island where the blend of fruity lime, lemon, and peach with rich coconut, vanilla, and buttermilk helps you relax. Likewise, float away with the combination of creamy coconut, soft musk, and white florals in Damsel Fly’s Fight Like a Girl or You are Beautiful candle.
If not just the space around you but also for your body, then roll on the natural Coconut Dream perfume from Sabine and Sparrow. These are non-greasy, long-lasting and free of alcohol and parabens making you smell like a dream!
Coconut Beauty
Get rid of dryness, clean the skin and keep it youthful! Often used in the form of oil and milk, the coconut flesh improves the health and appearance of skin. Combined with other natural ingredients, this on its own serves its special purpose.
Indulge and soak away in tropical haven with Summer Salt Body’s Coconut Bath Milk which is a blend of nourishing coconut milk and sea salts leaving your skin silky smooth and soft. Infused with coconut oil which cleans and softens the skin, the Charcoal Cleansing Stick from Hunter Lab is natural hardworking cleanser. Peppermint Scrub-Worker’s Soap Bar from Shave with Valor is based on organic Australian olive oil, cold-pressed organic coconut oil, organic cocoa butter, and castor bean oil. The cold-pressed organic coconut oil which is a little more superior to the normal coconut oil is a rich source of nutritionally valuable fatty acids which is great for the skin. A great scrub for those tired feet or hardworking hands!
As for the hair, let it fall silky and smooth with ANSC’S Solid Shampoo for Sensitive Scalp. This softly scented soap uses the gentlest plant oils like sweet almond, grapeseed oil and coconut oil which rich in fatty acids and minerals ideal for longer stronger hair adding a major shine. And not just beautiful hair, the oil also fights scalp infections such as dandruff, lice and itchy scalp with its antibacterial and antifungal properties.
Coconut Flavours
Eaten raw or cooked the flesh of the coconut is rich in vitamins, minerals, and powerful antioxidants. Used in the form of oil, milk or scraped flesh, the interesting fact about them is that they can balance out a spicy dish as well as add the nutty and sweet punch to the deserts. Mouth-watering recipes such as coconut poached chicken can be found in books like Big Salads, Coconut Cheesecakes in Vegan for Good, Coconut Cakes in Nourish Cakes and Spicy coconut and noodle in Five Ingredient Vegan. Enjoy trying out these recipes and relish creamy or crunchy texture incorporated into the dish!
Apart from the interesting recipes and dishes, coconut rich chocolates are the other sensational treats. Little Zebra Chocolates’ Coconut Chocolate Crunch Buds are crunchy criollo cacao nibs set in smooth coconut flavoured vegan dark chocolate that is free of any artificial colours, flavours, and preservatives. And the Keto White Chocolate, on the other hand, is a blend of cocoa butter and coconut milk powder with other ingredients making it a generous goodie for those on a keto diet.
Not just the cream and crunch inside, but the flower too! Coconut blossom sugar produced from the sap of the flower bud stem of the coconut palm is a great sweetener and a healthier alternative to normal refined sugar. Mork Chocolates believes in this and uses coconut blossom sugar in all its hot chocolate mixes whether it is Even Darker Hot Chocolate, Dark Milk and River Salt Hot Chocolate, Original Dark Hot Chocolate or the unique Australian Natives Blend.
Coconut Cleaning
Health, beauty and mind aside, it’s not only the coconut and buds that are beneficial to us, but also what holds it high and protects it! For instance, the coconut palm frond or rather the leaves can be used to made brooms like the Eco Max Coconut Palm Broom. Handmade from the centre of the coconut palm frond, bound with coconut fibre string, this natural broom works excellent as a rake and outside broom raking leaves from grass without pulling grassroots. For the dishes, the Eco Max Premium Pot Scourer made from natural coconut fibre is a super replacement to the nylon pot scourer as this one gets into all those hard to get to appliances and utensils leaving no scratch or mould. Similar cleaning brushes include Eco Max Toilet Brush, Eco Max Bottle Brush, and even Eco Max Foot Brush which when combined with your favourite soap, gives a firm scrub for your feet removing the grime and dead skin cells (I guess beauty doesn’t end with the fruit, nut, or seed alone!).
So, next time you’re on the beach and under the tall coconut tree tall, look up and admire nature’s wholesome creation. Although, a little bit of alertness will be good as the wholesome coconut can make their presence felt more by falling on your head!
