I never would have thought that one little coconut could bring so much excitement and joy... although, I do remember saving up my pocket money once or twice when I was young to buy my very own coconut!

It is amazing the discussion, questions and experiences that can come out of an unusual food item (as in one that we don't buy very often). First was the interest in the 3 little holes, and how daddy was going to get the liquid out of it. Then was the excitement in tasting the liquid (in a tiny glass each), then tasting the nut itself.

Next came daddy's story about drinking the liquid from a green one when he was in Fiji on a missions trip, then the story about the time he was prying coconut from the shell with a sharp steak knife (when we were engaged) and he had a little 'accident' and the knife went right through his thumb and came out the other side (you should have seen the look of horror on their faces at that story... and the look on mine at the time it happened!). That night we spent a long wait in A&E at the hospital!

After many random questions from the children, and mummy making a quick visit to http://wikipedia.org, we discussed and discovered some very interesting things...

Did you know that coconuts are not really nuts... they are a fruit?
Did you know that the liquid inside the coconut (brown ones) is called coconut water - not coconut milk?
Coconut water can be used as an intravenous fluid.
The green coconuts have the most liquid inside and their flesh is like jelly.
We discussed the warm countries where coconuts grow.
The husk and shells can be used for fuel and are a good source of charcoal.
Each palm can yield up to 75 fruits per year.
Coconut crabs crack coconuts with their strong pincers in order to eat the contents!

So there you go - your little science/social studies lesson for the week!