Can I only buy it in season?
It is listed as a year-round fruit. What a stall actually sells, including variety and stock, still varies, so compare whole fruit and prepared fruit separately.
Young Coconut
Young Coconut · มะพร้าวอ่อน
If you want cold coconut water on a hot day, pick a young coconut. The top is opened for you, so you drink the water inside and can scoop out the soft flesh. The fragrant nam hom coconut is a well-known variety in Thailand. When you are thirsty, it is also fine to share one with a companion.
Coconut Drink, Pangandaran · Crisco 1492 · CC BY-SA 3.0
Resized for display · Photo provided under CC BY-SA 3.0
When is the best time to eat it?
Available year-round
Listed as available year-round
Ban Phaeo nam hom coconut: harvest listed as year-round
Use the main harvest period, or the harvest window for a regional fruit, as a guide. Actual availability can change with growing region, variety and weather.
What does it taste like?
With a young coconut you enjoy the water and the soft white flesh together. Nam hom is introduced as a variety known for its aroma.
Why this fruit is known in Thailand
Thailand's fragrant young coconut is a fruit where you drink the water and eat the flesh too. Aromatic coconut of Ban Phaeo, Samut Sakhon, is also introduced as a regional GI fruit.
Buying basics
- Thai name
- มะพร้าวอ่อน
- Harvest period
- Available year-round
- Regional fruit
- Ban Phaeo nam hom coconut: harvest listed as year-round
- How to buy
- Coconuts are sometimes sold one at a time. Coconut water packed in a bottle and a coconut opened for you are not the same product, so look at the menu items separately.
How to prepare and eat it
- Pick a coconut to drink right away and ask the seller to open the top.
- After you drink the coconut water, scoop out the soft flesh with a spoon if you have one.
- Order after telling apart the price of one coconut and the price of a bottled drink.
Frequently asked questions
How do I compare a per-kilogram price with a price per pack?
Coconuts are sometimes sold one at a time. Coconut water packed in a bottle and a coconut opened for you are not the same product, so look at the menu items separately.
Keep exploring
Official sources and references
If you want to read more about the food and the regions behind it, these sources are a good place to start. Ingredients and recipes can vary from one restaurant to the next.
Sharing image credit: Crisco 1492 · CC BY-SA 3.0