Make it Yourself: Dried Sweetened Cocoanut
I don't know how this would price out in comparison to buying your own, but I do know some folks just like fresh cocoanut. Granny made a fresh cocoanut cake every year at Christmas when cocoanuts were in the market and she did all the hard work herself. I didn't even realize you might dry your own cocoanut from the fresh though!
From the September 1945 issue of Woman's Day magazine in the Neighbor's Column comes this method for preserving cocoanut. Apparently buying dried sweetened cocoanut was difficult to come by at that time:
When fresh cocoanut is in market, use the liquid (milk) to make custard or pie. Then put the peeled meat through the fine cutter of the food grinder. Bring to boil 1 cup water and 1 cup sugar, then add cocoanut and cook for five minutes. Spread on a large baking sheet and put in a slow oven (250f) for about two hours. It should dry thoroughly but not brown. Cool, then store in a dry, clean jar. Should make about three cups.
I grew curious about coconut and when it's available, etc. Apparently it is in fruit year round and ripened coconuts (called copra) are sold when the outer husk turns brown. It takes roughly a year for the coconut to ripen fully. I didn't even realize coconut was available year round! That means like oranges and bananas it might well be bought in season year round.
Once in market coconuts are good for about two weeks at room temperature, but may be kept whole in the refrigerator for up to two months. It is a crop that cannot be mechanically harvested, and either a human must climb the tree and cut the nut away or a long pole with a sharp knife at the other end is used to cut away the coconut.
This article also goes into detail on how to grow your own coconut palm, which is hardy to zone 9. You plant the whole coconut on it's side and buried about half way in the soil. It is best planted when the temperatures are between 90f and 100f which insures germination. I found it very intriguing to think I might grow a coconut palm and harvest my own nuts, though how I'd ever reach them is another story, lol. I thought perhaps some of the rest of you in the same zones (9-10) might be interested as well.
I hope you all find this as intriguing as I did.
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1 comment:
This is really new to me. Now I will be looking around the markets to see who carries coconuts!! :) I started looking more seriously in my older cook books recently. I had hoped they were books I could declutter but no!! I did donate other of the little old advertisement booklets and such. I didn't really want to get rid of so many but really need to cut back. They went to people that love such things too. I have cut back on so many desert type cookbooks though. There are plenty of good recipes in the ones I kept anyway.
I was stumped on some days menus. Then I opened the freezer and found some small pieces of meats..left
overs. So teamed with what I have already cooked and in the refrigerator these will be perfect additions. That was easy!! lol I spent some time looking around good cheap eats. I don't remember where I first found this blog but loved their motto. Eat Well. Act your Wage. Enjoy life. Looking around there again helped me with some menu ideas too. I love recipes that are so basic not having odd things in them you don't know how they taste or even where you would find them! Recipes that the ingredients are probably already in your pantry, I am sure glad other people try or invent so many new-to- me recipes!! :) Sarah
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