Coconut Water

The latest natural beverage now being marketed is naturally sweet 100% coconut water, both plain and flavored. It is being advertised as an alternative to sports drinks--to hydrate and refresh--containing five electrolytes (more potassium than a banana), with fewer calories (1 cup of Gatorade has 63 calories, the same amount of coconut water has just 46) and none of the artificial additives. (Carb-counters note that coconut water contains 10 carbs per cup).

This is not the creamy white coconut milk used in cooking curries, it is the water from the inside of the coconut. And it's not from the mature brown coconut sold in every supermarket, but rather the water from the young green coconut--sold in Asian markets and more recently in some natural food stores--which is very sweet and tasty. In the tropics, the natives mostly drink the water of the green coconut, not the brown coconuts we usually see here. It is very sweet and crisp--much different from the flavor of the brown coconut water.

While you can now buy coconut water in handy packages at your local natural food store (plain or flavored with fruit puree or natural flavoring "essences"--websites for two brands are www.zico.com and www.vitacoco.com), why not drink the real thing, straight from the nut? And enjoy eating the coconut meat too. This reduces not only the amount of packaging that must be manufactured and disposed of, but all the energy use to open the coconuts, extract the water, and fill the packages.

I haven't tasted the packaged coconut water, but the fresh young coconut water is delightful in and of itself and could probably be used as a sweetener for iced tea or any number of fruity summer drinks.

The advantage to the packaged coconut water is that you can keep it indefinately on the shelf and quite a while in the refrigerator, so it can be there when you want it. The fresh young coconuts last only about a week in the refrigerator and the water even less. (Perhaps it can be frozen, but I don't know for sure).

How to Open a Young Green Coconut

The young green coconut has a white husk that is cut with a pointy top. It is covering a soft shell. It's water is very sweet and crisp and it's meat is soft and gelantenous.

To remove the coconut water, whack the pointed top off with a heavy knife. It should cut thorugh the husk down to the soft meat. Then you can easily cut out the meat with a small sharp knife and pour out the water or drink it with a straw, as they do in the islands where coconuts are native.

To open the coconut, whack it with a hammer or heavy knife.

To remove the soft meat, just scrape it out with a soup spoon. Hold the spoon down near the bowl of the spoon so as to not bend the handle.

Refrigerate the water until well chilled.

Put The Lime in the Coconut

There's an old song--from the 60's I think--by Harry Nilsson about a brother who buys a coconut and a sister who buys a lime. It says:

Put the lime in the coconut, you drink 'em both together
Put the lime in the coconut, then you feel better

Flavored Coconut Water

You could further flavor the coconut water by adding fruit puree, fruit juice, natural flavoring extracts or any sweetener you desire (though I think it's plenty sweet in and of itself).

Enjoy!