This fruit of the coco palm begins life on a tree that towers from 60 to 100 feet high. Because it is peculiarly suited for dispersion across tropical islands--as its big seed is filled with buoyant water and encased in a water-tight pod--no one knows or, probably, can know where it first originated (though some speculate on the Malayan Archipelago). Certainly, however, it's an incredibly nutritious and useful food--providing milk, meat, sugar, and oil and acting as its own food dish and cup. It's husk can also be burned as a fuel to cook the fruit and its milk.

Although its name was recorded in Sanskrit in the early beginnings of history, the coconut was unknown to the western world until the 6th century, when it was imported into Egypt from the Indian Ocean--and still made little impression, though Marco Polo recognized it as Pharoah's nut when he ran across it in India on his travels.

In the Middle Ages, coconuts were so rare and so cherished that their shells were polished and mounted in gold. By the 19th century, however, new transportation routes made them common in European markets--and throwing objects (coconut shies) at local side shows.