Coconut water

"[Coconut water] may hydrate you, but that's not to say another product won't do it 10 or 15 times better." Julie Gilbert - Dietitian

My son and his family have just gone off to Queensland for a summer break with the children, leaving us with the cat and a rather eclectic mix of refrigerator food - including coconut water. Since it has been on my 'to do' list for some time I thought I would take the opportunity to look into it. And taste it too. I'm not that impressed with the taste - a bit too sweet for me even though it doesn't have any added sugar or sweeteners - well this one. It was mildly coconutty but not really. Maybe over time I could grow to like it but really why would I bother I thought. Now my daughter-in-law is into health and fitness so I was guessing it was supposed to be good for you in some sporty kind of way.

The reason I put it on my 'to do' list was this:

This is the Coles selection of coconut water photographed by me some time ago now. I was somewhat bemused by the number of different varieties - some of them flavoured I see, some of them not. It is obviously a big thing. Basically a whole section of the drinks aisle was dedicated to it. The one I have sitting in my fridge at the moment is from Aldi (and Thailand), so even they, with their rather more limited range of products considers it as a staple and basic thing. So it's obviously all the rage.

It has been around forever of course - because basically it's the water in green coconuts. As the coconut matures the water dries up and becomes the flesh. Well I think that's how it works. So people in countries with coconuts have probably been drinking it as a refresher since time immemorial. Let's not forget that the water in such places is possibly not healthy.

So why is it such a bit thing? Well basically from canny marketing and celebrity endorsement. The kind of celebrity that is into way-out health stuff. It is also touted as a healthy alternative to the currently much maligned sports drinks. Mind you when I started looking at it, it seemed to me that the nutritionists who were commenting on it suggested that it was not a suitable alternative to sports drinks for elite athletes and people who do heavy workouts. It just didn't have enough of the right things to re-hydrate - potassium and sodium and restore. Yes it has potassium but not enough and it doesn't have sodium. You would do better with water and peanut butter apparently - or a sports drink!

"I think the claims for coconut water are probably overrated. It's unlikely to be harmful and it has got some mineral component, but it doesn't have a high nutritional content." Aloysa Hourigan, Senior Nutritionist, Nutrition Australia

On the other hand it won't do you any harm - if you like it. And yes it has got a few more things in it than water, but really water is probably the best thing.

"People are looking for a magic cure, but it's a combination of foods that give us nutrients, not just one... It's about choosing good-quality food, the right portion sizes and getting nutrients from a wide source of foods." Julie Gilbert - Nutritionist

And if there really is nothing else to hand, it can be used instead of a blood transfusion because it is similar to blood plasma. It was used in the Pacific on wounded soldiers in WW2 for example. Now who would have thought of that?

So having established, as I thought, that it wasn't going to do very much for me, and besides I didn't like it much I had a look to see if you could cook with it. And of course you can. Some of the suggestions were pretty obvious - smoothies, popsicles, drinks but there were also some more creative uses. In curries instead of the more calorie laden coconut milk - though one of these recipes seemed to add cream to boost the creaminess of the finished dish which rather took away the advantage of not using coconut milk I thought. Besides I really don't think that it has the same coconut taste as coconut milk. Several people used it in salad dressings - kale salad anyone? There were recipes for chocolate cake, muffins, pizza dough, muesli - basically:

"Coconut water can really be used wherever water or juice might find a home." Kitchn

Here is the tastiest looking recipe I found. It's from Sophie Dahl

COCONUT-MANGO FROZEN YOGHURT

1 cup plain coconut water

1/2 cup sugar

1 small mango (about 10 ounces), peeled and diced

1 cup fat-free Greek yogurt

1 cup light coconut milk

1 tablespoon fresh lemon juice

2 tablespoons shredded unsweetened coconut

In a small saucepan, combine the coconut water and sugar and bring to a boil. Cook until reduced to 3/4 cup, about 6 minutes. Let the sugar syrup cool.

In a blender or food processor, puree the diced mango with 2 tablespoons of the sugar syrup. Transfer 1/4 cup of the puree to a bowl and whisk in the Greek yogurt, coconut milk, lemon juice and the remaining sugar syrup. Pour the mixture into a glass baking dish and freeze for 1 hour, until frozen around the edges. Whisk the mixture to break up the clumps and return to the freezer. Freeze for about 2 hours longer, whisking frequently, until the mixture is nearly frozen. Spread the remaining mango puree on top and, using a butter knife, swirl it into the yogurt. Freeze until nearly solid.

Meanwhile, in a small skillet, toast the shredded coconut over moderate heat, stirring constantly, until it's golden, about 3 minutes. Transfer the coconut to a plate and let it cool. To serve, scoop the frozen yogurt into bowls and top with the toasted coconut. Alternatively, in a tall glass, layer the coconut between small scoops of the frozen yogurt, like a parfait.

And here is Kitchn's list of broad ideas - I notice it doesn't include the salad dressing