Coconut Scrapper

Coconut is a staple ingredient for all South Indians, especially Kerala, the land of coconuts. Being the one constant in almost all food, the usage of coconuts is very high, and so is the need to scrape them to make Chutneys and Thorans.

The traditional scrapper is a flat wooden stool fixed with a sturdy metal scraper at the end. The wooden stool is carved intrinsically in the olden days to create patterns and shapes of birds and animals to make them more appealing. As a nation where people seldom throw out their old things, these old coconut scrapers have survived many generations and are passed down as a family heirloom.

A version of the scraper also has a sharp knife with its head made into a scraper. The knife is used for cutting vegetables and a scraper to scrape coconut. This knife and scraper combo is called Aruvamanai. Though mechanized and electrical scrapers are available now, these Traditional Scrapers and Aruvamanais are still found in many homes of South India.

Photography @chettinad_antiques