Young coconut meat is a gelatinous edible part found inside a green coconut, used in many dishes including desserts, salads, and cocktails. It can be purchased fresh or canned and is a common ingredient in vegan and raw diets. Coconut jelly and nata de coco are other popular coconut gel-like ingredients.
Young coconut meat is the gelatinous edible part inside a green coconut. This meat varies in texture and color, from a white, jelly-like material that is thick enough to cut to an almost clear, runny gel. It can be purchased at some grocery stores in fresh or canned form. It’s a common ingredient in many dishes, including desserts, salads, and cocktails. Coconut is usually served raw, although it is sometimes used as an ingredient in some Thai curries.
This fruit is commonly found canned in grocery stores serving Asian communities. Young coconut meat can also be harvested from whole young coconuts, which are found fresh in most well-stocked produce sections. When sold fresh, young coconuts are usually whitish and stringy on the outside. Young coconuts look like this because they are sold with the green outer husk already removed. In contrast, a mature coconut has a hard, bark-like outer shell with dense, white flesh inside.
When sold in stores, these coconuts usually come wrapped in clear plastic wrap. The fruit is contained in a hard shell that sits within the fibrous outer hull. The young coconut meat is so soft that it can be scooped out of the coconut with a spoon. When a young coconut has not yet had time to develop jelly-like flesh, it contains only liquid inside.
Desserts that have this ingredient include young coconut tapioca, pies, and cakes. The young coconut meat is also blended into drinks, such as cocktails and smoothies. It is a common substitute ingredient in vegan and raw diets and appears in many fruit salads and cocktails.
A popular Indonesian drink, es teler, contains this jelly-like flesh mixed with jackfruit, grass jelly, and a vegetable flavoring called pandan in a bath of sweetened coconut milk and condensed milk. Some recipes also contain palm sugar and avocado. This drink is served in a cocktail glass with a straw.
Young coconut isn’t the only popular jellied coconut food. Often flavored with other fruits, coconut jelly is a common coconut jelly food that is also spread on toast. Another coconut gel-like ingredient that is used in some dishes is called nata de coco. This dish resembles young coconut meat in its whitish, gelatinous appearance, but is actually made by fermenting coconut milk. It is most commonly eaten in its country of origin, the Philippines.
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