CC BY-NC-SA 4.0
Bast
Coconut Bast, vor 1900
About the object
Coconut bast had numerous material uses. Referring to the artefacts in question, Antonie Brandeis described the production of coconut oil: the flesh of the coconut seed is extracted and rolled inside coconut bast as shown here. Subsequently, this pulp would be pressed and the resulting oil collected in a hollowed-out coconut shell. Before it became an international commodity, the oil was used as a kind of hair gel and was rubbed into the skin as a form of personal grooming.