If you’ve been following our brand, you know that we’re obsessed with coconuts. It makes sense to us—coconut is a life-giving plant, offering a sustainable and nutritious food source loaded with antioxidants along with fibers that can be used in everything from fertilizer to hypoallergenic mattresses.

Our coconut-ty information doesn’t come from thin air though, and we believe that the best way to represent yourself is to quote your teachers so we’re officially giving proper recognition and appreciation to Bruce Fife, N.D. author of Coconut Cures: Preventing and Treating Common Health Problems with Coconut.

Dr. Fife and his findings opened our eyes to the many powers of the Coconut Palm. If you don’t already own one of his books, we highly recommend you to do yourself a favor and get yourself a copy of Coconut Cures.

We write a lot different types of coconut products, and we certainly sell the best of the best when it comes to coconut but we wanted to spend a few weeks talking about the coconut palm itself on our blog.

We decided to start the series off by bringing it back to the basics....

13 Things You Should Know About the Coconut Palm

1. It takes, on average, 7-12 years for a coconut palm to produce coconuts.
2. A mature coconut palm can produce up to 75 ripe coconuts per year—though each tree can create roughly 30 coconuts per month.
3. The tree can produce for up to 80 years
4. Coconuts are considered a "drupe" which is a stone fruit—so the palm is technically a fruit tree, although it is classified with the FDA as a nut.
5. Coconuts take about 14 months to fully mature.
6. Only when they’re fully mature do coconuts produce their hard brown shell, some liquid, and a thick layer of white meat.
7. The taste, texture, size, and content of the coconut meat and liquid changes as the nut matures.
8. Young coconuts (less than 6 months old) have very sweet water and jelly-like meat that can be eaten with a spoon.
9. Coconuts reach full size at about 6 to 7 months (at this stage they are half developed).
10. As the coconut matures, the liquid decreases and the meat increases in thickness and hardness.
11. The liquid of mature coconuts are not sweet and can even become sour.
12. Mature de-husked coconuts are the type most commonly found in stores.
13. There are two main variations of Coconuts... Green and Yellow

"In the tropics and other parts of the world the young or green coconuts are among the most popular foods. Older coconuts are usually dried in the sun. Sun-dried coconut meat called, copra, is used to make Coconut Oil. Fresh mature coconut meat is transformed into shredded coconut meat, coconut milk, or virgin coconut oil. Young coconuts are also much easier to crack open and eat." —Excerpt from Dr Bruce Fife, Coconut Cures.

Do you have a favorite coconut fact? Let us know in the comments below!

Disclosure: This article is for informational purposes only and is not to be considered medical advice. If you are in need of medical advice, please seek the appropriate medical counsel.