Coconut

Coconuts grow on tall palms trees where conditions are warm, wet and humid enough, meaning they only really thrive and produce nuts in tropical areas. A coconut palm produces coconuts for about seventy years. Its origins remain uncertain with many places claiming the first palms; fossils older than 15 million years have been found on coconut-like plants. Some claim they first grew in South America, some in New Zealand and yet more in central Asia. The nut usually has three 'eyes'. When germinating, sometimes after hundreds of miles of floating across oceans, two eyes sprout new leaves while the remaining one produces a fibrous root.
Coconuts can be used for their juice, when the coconut is unripe and still green; and 'meat', which at this stage is gelatinous. The juice is sweet and very nutritious (not to be confused with coconut milk which is man made). This juice later becomes almost tasteless and bitter when after about a year the coconut is ripe and falls from the tree. Its fall is cushioned by the coir, a fibrous outer layer, which covers the shell. The shell is very hard, but when cracked open reveals the white meat of the coconut. This is the edible part and has to be scraped away from the shell. The meat can be pressed for oil, and can be eaten fresh or dried for cooking.