This post describes how copra was made in the Seychelles using the calorifer.
This is the third post in the series relating to the coconuts and how it impacted on the life of the Seychellois. To read previous posts click here.
Copra is the flesh of the coconut that has been allowed to dry. It is valued for the coconut oil extracted from it and for the resulting residue, coconut-oil cake, locally known as pounak, which is used mostly for livestock feed.
Types of copra
There are two types of copra. The copra cup and the plain or milling copra. The copra cups are used mainly for religious purposes and the plain copra is produced mainly to extract coconut oil. Seychelles used to produce both types and they were once exported in great quantities.
The hayday of the calorifer
The export of copra was the mainstay of the Seychelles economy before the tourism boom in the early 1970s. As a result of high cost of production and stiff competition from other coconut oil producing countries – mainly from the Asian continent, the production and export of copra took a negative turn culminating in 1994, when Pakistan, which was the last remaining importer of coconut and copra from Seychelles at that time, ceased coconut-related transactions with the country.
In the 1950s and 1960s almost every village in the inner islands and almost all outlying islands had a calorifer or copra kiln or kalorifer to dry the coconut flesh or kernel into copra. In fact, in 1932 there were approximately 50 calorifers, and 55 bullock-powered coconut oil mills, or moulin kopra, in operation. Copra was exported to Mauritius, South Africa, France and United Kingdom
The calorifer
There was basically only one type of calorifer in Seychelles that was used to dry copra. This was a type of indirect heat-natural draft hot air type. Hot air drying produced high quality copra in a relatively shorter period of time compared to other drying methods.
LEARN MORE
If you want to explore this topic further and learn more about the culture and traditions of these small gems in the middle of the Indian Ocean, click here or on the book cover below. This will link you to our newly published book, which takes you on a journey that is “unique by a thousand miles.” It provides historical context for some of our cultural practices, deepening your appreciation of the Seychelles and hopefully inspiring you to visit, explore, and engage in these activities.
Get your copy and let us begin our journey into the rich and fascinating world of the Seychellois Creole heritage. Open these pages and begin the journey through the coconut groves, the plantations, the workshops and the paths that once linked village to village. Discover the skills, customs and stories that helped shape the Seychellois people.
We will climb coconut palms to tap toddy, discover how baka is made, follow the work of picking and husking coconuts, and learn how copra was produced, among other things. These were not merely occupations; they were part of the rhythm of life in the islands, passed from one generation to another.
Some of these traditions have survived and continue, at least in part, to this day. Others have gradually disappeared, becoming memories of an older Seychelles. Guano mining, the production of karot taba, and the cultivation of patchouli increasingly belong to that vanished world, a world worth remembering before its stories fade completely.
Click here or on the book cover to start your journey into the Seychellois Creole World.
