Re: Patti/ was: dried coconut/coconut flour

[Guest guest]

Hi Antoinette,

> Can you tell me why coconut flour when processed untill it is as

> smooth as almond flour is not allowed? Is it what it is made out of,

> or just becasue it is fiberous?

It is both. If coconut is shredded it is quite fibrous and grinding

iit into flour does help make it a little easier to digest. By

grinding it to a flour you are making it smaller and allowing the

bodies natural enzymes to work on smaller pieces. Unfortunately with

some food items this only takes you so far.

Just think of cabbage. Raw, shredded cabbage is difficult to digest

because it is fibrous and gas forming. Cooking and pureeing cabbage

into a soup like item will help the digestibility of it somewhat but if

a person isn't ready to digest cabbage it will still cause gas and GI

symptoms. Coconut is the same the " meat of coconut " is more difficult

to digest than other " nuts " - whether it is chunks of coconut or

coconut flour.

The easiest to digest nuts are pecans and blanched almonds.

> When I process my cocnut like this it

> is no longer that fiberous.

Yes, it is still fibrous, it is just in tiny fibrous pieces.

> But it does take time to do this. Yet will

> always respect Elaine's guidelines and fears.

Homemade coconut milk is okay though because the straining of the milk

removes all the fibrous parts that are difficult to digest.

Sheila, Feb. 2001, UC 22yrs

mom of Em and Dan