Coconut, or nui in ʻōlelo Hawaiʻi (Hawaiian language), arrived in Hawaiʻi via canoes sailed by Polynesian voyagers roughly 4,500 years ago. Native Hawaiians considered the coconut tree to be the god Kū in physical form. For them, coconut water was sacred and therefore used for important ceremonies and rituals. Many of the coconut trees’ ancient […]
Who doesn’t love the coconut? Even if you’re not a fan of its peculiar tasting water, or its fleshy meat, the coconut—or stone fruit—has become synonymous with Hawaiʻi’s island culture. To celebrate World Coconut Day, which was established in 2009 and is observed on Sept. 2, we’ve put together a list of eight Hawaiʻi-related coconut
While coconut trees may be ubiquitous in Hawai‘i, few of us know what to do with the nut itself. We drink imported coconut water and see the falling fruits more as a liability than a blessing. Ryan Burden is hoping to change that. When he’s not traveling around Maui trimming coconut trees, Burden, 38, runs
Everywhere you look in Hawaii, you’ll see coconut trees. But it’s not always easy to find fresh coconuts. And it’s even harder to find a coconut farm. That was a surprise to our editorial team, all of us born and raised on O‘ahu, when we visited Punakea Palms on Maui, the only coconut farm we
Everyone is going cuckoo for coconuts, these days, and it’s not hard to see why. The entire tree, from root to fruit, is used to make food, oils, rope, thatch, beauty products and much more. The value of the coconut certainly isn’t lost on the Coconut Information Project’s Ryan Burden. He’s traveled the world learning about
