[migueldiaz]

Originally Posted by kai

To me #1 looks like a bat-head "bolo" (usually attributed to Batangas)...

Thanks for the info, Kai!

Originally Posted by kai

Well, he's obviously playing with a freshly opened coconut not copra. Else he wouldn't smile that much anymore...

Thanks for pointing that out ... yes indeed, copra's smell is an acquired taste

But yes, as you noted the photo shows a freshly opened mature coconut. And thus to scoop out that fresh kernel, you really need a sharp and pointed bolo, as at that point the kernel still sticks very much to the shell.

Originally Posted by kai

AFAIK, copra is really not that difficult to remove from the shell since most of it is already detached due to the drying process - wouldn't something like a spoon work much better/faster?

Actually, I made the mistake in my earlier post by saying the tourist is scooping out copra.

The process of making copra is as follows: you split a mature coconut in two, then you scoop out the fresh thick & hard kernel with a bolo and you throw away the shell (for some later other use), and then you dry that kernel (without the shell), and after some time, the kernel becomes copra.

So one will really initially need that sharp and pointed bolo to separate that fresh kernel from the shell

BTW, isn't the copra trade a fairly recent (i.e. colonial) phenomenon? From my travels, ripe coconuts seemed to be of very little interest to any local population - they only utilized young coconuts (or, at least, still fairly soft ones for making coconut cream).

Copra's mass production would date back to at least the mid-1800s I think.

As to which is used more, young or old coconuts, in the Philippines the latter would have much many more uses. Young coconut (i.e., buko, pronounced BOO-koh) is commonly used merely for dessert as buko salad. Mature coconut however would have a host of domestic, commercial, and industrial applications, and copra would just be one of the many