Post #90623 by Atomic Cocktail on Tue, May 11, 2004 11:34 AM

Trader Joe's market here in SoCal used to sell coconut ice cream in cups made from coconut shells (and my roommate used to eat lots of it!) They are simply coconut shells cut in half with out any apparent sealer on them. I use them as punch cups and they work fine-no cracking to date. Coconut shell is pretty close grained-it is used to make buttons so it has to be tough. I hand wash them and dry them with a towel.

I also have a cup made from bamboo. The trick here is to cut while the bamboo is green. A friend of mine tried to make Japanese water bottle from the dried Chinese bamboo you can buy in the hardware store. Several problems: 1. The inside was covered in black (mold?) 2. They split when water was put inside.

I have used my bamboo mug without sealer and have had no problems yet. I would suggest though, you don't leave liquids in it for a long time.