"To open and empty a coco de mer takes around 20 minutes," said Bristol, explaining how the extreme hardness of the outer shell is a tough nut to crack."It's much more difficult than a regular coconut."
To prepare it, the shell is cut in half along the groove giving it its unique shape, and then emptied of the pulpy kernel. "Nowadays, we cut the coco de mer in two with a powerful electric saw - but before, we did it with a handsaw, and is so hard that it could take up to half an hour" just to open it, he said.The halves are then glued back together to be sold in souvenir shops, for prices ranging from 3,000 to 4,000 Seychellois rupees , accompanied by a certificate.The coco de mer has been coveted for centuries.
Originally, nuts were found drifting in the open sea, or washed up on beaches in the Indian Ocean. Having never seen it grow on land, sailors thought it came from trees rooted in the seabed - hence its name in French, coco de mer, or sea coconuts.For a while demand dropped - not least because conventional coconuts have a sweeter taste.
But the coco de mer became popular again after tourism took off following the independence of Seychelles in 1976.But the restrictions were ignored by nut poachers, putting the coconut palm in danger.
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