Day 011 of Our Winter: Yesterday, I showed some local coconuts after the tree pickers had come to cut a harvest from the trees in the yard. People might not understand just how important coconuts are in Sri Lankan cuisine. There is an important reason why two thirds of the three billion annual coconut harvest is used domestically. Sri Lankan food is absolutely based on them. Each of Jay's sisters live alone. I asked how many coconuts were required in a week and they agreed that around three are needed for their cooking needs per week. So a between them they require a couple of dozen per month. You can imagine how many are used by large families over the course of a year.
As sort of a case study, today's images were of Kanthi husking some to bring back to her home in a Colombo suburb. She came here because this house is near the airport and she got to visit with us for a week. Today, she went back and, of course, to save space needed just the coconuts. Husking them is a real job on a hot day.
She got a PickMe ride share to Nugegoda, about 35 kms from the house. We will use her house as a base later this winter as it makes the big city of Colombo more accessible. In fact, the sisters often go back and forth for short stays.
