Tuesday, November 30, 2010

Orange Dwarf Coconut (Gendale)

Orange Dwarf Coconut, is a beautiful yellow and orange colored variety of Coconut commonly grown in Konkan region of India. In Konkani, this variety is known as Gendale. Many of my family members who own farmlands and ancestral fields take great pride in harvesting this variety of Coconut.

I have vivid memories of sipping farm fresh coconut water drawn from freshly plucked Coconuts from my Grandfather's farmlands. In those days, Coconuts were an easily available commodity and paying for a bunch of them was certainly unheard of.

The Orange Dwarf coconut tree grows to about 10-15 metres in height as opposed to conventional Coconut trees which shoot anywhere from 20 to 50 metres in height depending on the soil, climate and type of nutrition provided to the tree. When I was a child this variety was a common one. However now with less forest regions and dwindling green fields and farmlands this Coconut is becoming a very rare and precious variety. A chilled glass of this coconut water is by and far the best and tastiest one I've ever had. Many agro and horticulture based initiatives are currently being undertaken to propagate and multiply this rare and precious variety of Coconut.

1 comment:

  1. I love the vibrant orange colored coconuts. My parents have those in their backyard. My dad planted 1green 1 orange colored in a row surrounding the house. So now it looks very colorful one tree bright green one tree bright orange coconuts, feels like a decoration in itself.

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