Copra is dried coconut meat. It is valued
for its high
content of coconut oil, the most important tropical oil in 1941.
Coconut
oil was used in everything from soaps to edible lubricants (used in
food
processing machinery). The author recalls his grandmother popping
popcorn in pure coconut oil, which yielded a distinctive taste.
Coconut palms require a tropical climate to thrive, with constant warm temperatures and high moisture. This restricts coconut plantations to oceanic or coastal regions within 25° of the equator. The South Pacific is nearly ideal coconut country, and the only economic development in many backwards jungle regions, such as the Solomons, was coconut plantations.
The Pacific War Online Encyclopedia (c) 2007 by Kent G. Budge. Index