I am from tropical country and where coconut is one of the major plantation crop cultivated throughout the Island as a source to sustain the small livelihood to the small and marginal family. Copra is produce after sun drying or other traditional method using firewood which is what I'm going to share about. This method using firewood is another option especially during rainy season.
Copra Drying Bed
The amount of copra depends on the drying bed size of course. Usually this size can holds up to 5 sacks of copra. And they spread it over to get an even dry.
Copra change in color when they are ready or dry. It usually takes 24 hours for the copra to dry.
Sometimes they also use the coconut shells together with the firewood to sustain the heat. And this is how it looks like..Under that drying bed is like a tunnel where the heat from this fireplace goes. That hot air picks up moisture of copra as it passes through the bed.
What's the shovel for? This is what they use as 'turner' for the copra. It's quite hot so they need something with long handles to avoid contact with the heat. And this shovel is of big help.. just common sense.
And when copra is ready, it is now sealed in sacks.
This smoke dryer is not just for copra, it is also useful for other purposes like drying corn and other root crops like cacao. It is what we used to do in our farm on rainy seasons.
Logs are also use to keep the fireplace burning.. these are the trees fallen during the typhoon or due to strong winds.
It was raining hard when I took this photos. I was on my way home to our farm house and the rain was so heavy and strong so I took the opportunity to keep documents of this old methods. But maybe I'll be sharing to you soon about do we dry in our dryer beds. This is not far from our country house, though we have our own dryer, but since their dryer is big enough compared to ours I think it's a good idea to share this information that this method still exist.
It was raining hard that day and foggy. I love the weather though especially in the country. In times like this, a good coffee or tea will do. After an hour passed and the rain subsided, I finally arrived and my mom was surprised that I'm home.
Have you ever seen this traditional method in your place? Thanks for stopping by and checking my post!