The encyclopædia of practical cookery

The Cocoa-nut is the fruit of a tall, straight palm (Cocos nucifera ) which flourishes in the eastern parts of Asia and the islands of the Indian Seas, whence it is imported into all parts of Europe. The nuts are found clustering under the plume of leaves, and frequently number on one palm as many as a hundred, the tree often bearing flowers and ripe nuts at the same time. When picked, the nut, as may be seen by the section shown in Fig. 490, is covered by a thick mass of fibre (Cocoa-nut fibre), so much coveted by mat-makers, over which is a thin brownish case. The nut in its green state is filled with a juice called “ Cocoa-nut milk,” which is sweet and refreshing, and used by refined natives or foreigners with coffee, or for making tasty dishes and wine. The pulp is then so soft that it may be eaten with a spoon, and with a little Madeira and lime-juice For details respecting Culinary Processes , Utensils, Sauces , etc., referred to, see under their special heads. Cocoa-nuts — continued. added to it, is a delicious dish. The mature nut is used by confectioners for many purposes of their art, and when rasped and dried, or desiccated, it will keep many years, if stored in a dry place. The notion that the flavour is destroyed by drying has long since been proved erroneous. The oil expressed from the oily nut (Cocoa-nut oil) can be burned in lamps. Cocoa-nut Balls. — Put 21b. of caster sugar in a saucepan with the milk of a Cocoa-nut, stir, boil until it begins to granulate, then stir in the finely-grated Cocoa-nut, and boil for a few minutes. Turn it into buttered dishes, and when sufficiently cool make it into balls with the hand. Cocoa-nut Biscuits. — Put the whites of two eggs into a basin, beat them to a froth, and stir in gently 4oz. of caster sugar and 2oz. of desiccated Cocoa-nut. With a teaspoon place the mixture on sheets of white paper spread over a baking-sheet, and bake in a cool oven until quite hard, which will take about half-an-hour. Take them out, remove the paper by damping it, and use the biscuits when cold. Cocoa-nut Buns.- -Mix with fib. of best flour, by sifting, 1 teaspoonful each of bicarbonate of soda and cream of tartar. Beat 3oz. of warmed butter until creamed with Jib. of caster sugar, add the flour, and mix well ; then add one egg, 5 pint of milk, and Jib. of grated Cocoa-nut. Shape the paste into buns, arrange these on buttered sheets, and bake for twenty minutes. Cocoa-nut Cake. — (1) Large. — Beat (-lb. of warmed butter with 1J breakfast-cupfuls of caster sugar, and when it is creamy, beat in 3 5 teacupfuls of flour With which has been mixed 2 teaspoonfuls of cream of tartar and 1 teaspoonful of bicarbonate of soda ; then add a little essence of lemon, the whites of ten eggs firmly beaten, and | pint of milk. Spread the paste about lin. thick on greased tins, and cover the tops with an icing in which the grated Cocoa-nut has been stirred. Pile one layer on the other, allowing a short time for drying, ice the top with plain icing, and sift a little grated Cocoa-nut over it. Bake in a quick oven.