Can I only buy it in season?
It is listed as available all year round. However, the varieties and stock on sale differ from stall to stall, so look at whole fruit and prepared fruit separately.
Young Coconut
Young Coconut · มะพร้าวอ่อน
If you want cold coconut water on a hot day, choose a young coconut. Have the top opened, drink the water inside, then spoon out the soft flesh too. The fragrant nam hom coconut is a variety well known in Thailand. When you are thirsty, you could share one with your companion.
Coconut Drink, Pangandaran · Crisco 1492 · CC BY-SA 3.0
Resized for display · Photo used under CC BY-SA 3.0
When is the best time to eat it?
On sale all year
Listed as available all year
Nam hom coconut from Ban Phaeo: harvest period listed as all year
Use the main season, or the harvest period for regional fruit, as a guide. Actual availability can vary with the growing area, the variety and the weather.
What does it taste like?
With a young coconut you enjoy the water and the soft white flesh together. Nam hom is presented as a variety whose scent is its feature.
Why this fruit is well known in Thailand
Thailand’s fragrant young coconut is a fruit in which you drink the water and eat the flesh too. The fragrant coconut of Ban Phaeo in Samut Sakhon is also presented as a regional GI fruit.
Good to know before you buy
- Thai name
- มะพร้าวอ่อน
- Harvest period
- On sale all year
- Regional fruit
- Nam hom coconut from Ban Phaeo: harvest period listed as all year
- How it is sold
- Coconuts are sometimes sold one at a time. Coconut water sold bottled and a coconut opened whole for you are not the same product, so look at the menus separately.
How to prepare and eat it
- Choose a coconut to drink straight away and ask for the top to be opened.
- After drinking the coconut water, if you have a spoon, scoop out the soft flesh too.
- Order with the price of one coconut and the price of a bottled drink kept separate.
Frequently asked questions
How do I compare a per-kilo price with the price of a tub?
Coconuts are sometimes sold one at a time. Coconut water sold bottled and a coconut opened whole for you are not the same product, so look at the menus separately.
Keep exploring
Official sources and references
If you would like to read more about the food and the regions behind it, these sources are worth a look. Ingredients and cooking methods can vary from one cook to the next.
Sharing image credit: Crisco 1492 · CC BY-SA 3.0