Ellyn
Veteran
I was born in the tropics, so I would think that some genetic memory would move me to recognize this as the fruit of life or something. Instead, coconut was... an acquired taste, to put it kindly. As a child, I was just very sensitive to the sickliness or bitterness of the flavor, and there would be this aerated sort of aftertaste that I just didn't like...
It still has those, but somehow I can now appreciate coconut in all aspects of its flavor. Coconut juice makes an excellent base for a sorbet or just a summer drink, and coconut milk (which is the fruit flesh blended with water, different from the naturally-occurring juice) adds body to cakes and shakes with less acidity than dairy milk. The flesh of the fruit can be well-textured, crunchy or gummy.
Many of those who follow the Paleo diet have made coconut a staple.
While the fruit is usually the product of the female parts of a tree, there is also a rare genderqueer variety in coconut crops that produces a remarkably soft and flavor-intense coconut fruit, that where I live is known as macapuno. (I don't know what it's called anywhere else.) The flavor is also supposed to be nuttier.
It still has those, but somehow I can now appreciate coconut in all aspects of its flavor. Coconut juice makes an excellent base for a sorbet or just a summer drink, and coconut milk (which is the fruit flesh blended with water, different from the naturally-occurring juice) adds body to cakes and shakes with less acidity than dairy milk. The flesh of the fruit can be well-textured, crunchy or gummy.
Many of those who follow the Paleo diet have made coconut a staple.
While the fruit is usually the product of the female parts of a tree, there is also a rare genderqueer variety in coconut crops that produces a remarkably soft and flavor-intense coconut fruit, that where I live is known as macapuno. (I don't know what it's called anywhere else.) The flavor is also supposed to be nuttier.
