coco loco.
January 16th, 2012 § 6 Comments
Last week while I was in Moree (New South Wales, Australia), I slipped into three apples organics with my cousin.
For a small store in a small town, its product selection was surprisingly diverse and high-quality. I found a couple of products that I had been wanting to try for a while, but couldn’t locate in any of my local haunts.
Let me preface these reviews by saying that I love coconut. Growing up, I had coconut palms in the back yard, which would occasionally drop a nut (does that sound obscene?) with an unceremonious crash onto the tin roof when we least expected it. Our Garden Boi was adept at shimmying up the tree to wrench green coconuts straight off the plant to hack open with a bush knife, but we tended to buy them from the markets and supermarkets (as far as my feeble brain can recall), which my dad hacked open with a bush knife too. As was the custom.
Two funny stories about bush knives (I digress):
1. A bush knife is the PNG equivalent of a machete, and they are sold everywhere. Everybody uses them. For everything. When we first moved to Lae, we were staying is some crummy mission flats. My brother and I, unsupervised as usual (honestly, I have no idea where my parents were for at least 75% of my childhood), were attempting to chop the husk off a coconut we’d found with a bush knife… that we’d also found, I suppose. My brother was wielding the bush knife, and he accidentally cut me. When I say “cut”, this incision was minuscule. No more than a millimetre long. However, I had heard somewhere in my six years of keen information gathering that if you cut your wrists you died. Luckily for me, a nurse was staying in the mission flat right at the end of the block, and she dutifully attended to my wound with a bandaid, effectively SAVING ME FROM EXSANGUINATION. What a relief that was.
2. My father, just before returning to Australia on one occasion, had his vehicle broken into. The rascals left behind their rusty bush knife, and my father, being the unruffle-able sort of fellow that he is, merely tucked it into his briefcase (?) and forgot about it. He forgot about it to the extent that he tried to take it through an airport as hand luggage. Imagine trying to explain that one to security. Luckily for him this was the 90s — long before 9/11 — so he came through unscathed and only slightly sheepish.
Onto the coconut.
1. I am fixated on coconut water. Because I have been ill recently, I have turned to coconut water as a means of getting some hydration and nutrition into me without too much tousle. (Coconut water is several times more hydrating than water and contains key minerals such as potassium. In extreme situations, green coconut water can even be given intravenously as a substitute for saline or plasma.) Tetra-packed and canned coconut water varies wildly in flavour and quality. I have tried just about every type and brand from both mainstream shops and Asian groceries and have found only a couple of products that I would consume regularly. This beyond organic coconut water is the best I have tried, tasting as close to unadulterated coconut water as it can probably get. I bought a bottle for $2.95, which is what I pay for a whole green coconut at the supermarket. When you consider that the coconuts sold in Australia are generally imported and irradiated (and require some method of hacking into — with or without bush knife on hand), the bottled variety doesn’t seem too precious or extravagant. I hope I can find some in Toowoomba or Brisbane.
2. I have heard great things about artisana products via sarah wilson’s blog and forums. Based on rave reviews, I have been tempted to order the 10-packs of sachets from online suppliers because I have had difficulty finding them on store shelves. At $30.00 for a box of ten, I thought it seemed a bit steep, but if they were as wonderful as everybody said, I considered that they’d make for a dazzling treat once every few days. I was able to pick up a single sachet of both the coconut butter and the cacao bliss products for $3.00 each at Three Apples, and tried them on separate days.
I’m sad to say that they made me sick. Although they are all natural, they are incredibly high in fat, and I think that my Crohnsy stomach just couldn’t handle them. (I remind myself of prince gerhardt von hapsberg: “He cannot metabolise ze grapes!”) In fact, when I even think of eating either the butter or the cacao variety, I feel slightly queasy. A teaspoon here and there might be perfect for someone else (if you a fructose-free, however, do note that the cacao bliss is sweetened with agave), but I found the pastes overwhelmingly rich. My stomach revolted. And I’ll spare you the details because they are, indeed, revolting. Let me just say that the cramps alone weren’t worth it. So, they’re something that I will cross off my list for further health-food shopping. I would still be interested to hear if others have had this experience or know of some other ways to use the products that “water them down” somewhat.
Do you have any favourite coconut products? I am guilty of eating coconut flakes out of the packet when I think that nobody is watching.
I get the feeling that I have divulged way too much information about myself in this post. Apologies!
I made the mistake of having coconut water after cleaning up severely off cream from a wrestling match Bonnie had with a bag of garbage the other day. Now even the thought of coconut water makes me gag :0(
I think they have Beyond at Wray.
That’s a terrible shame! Coconut water is teh shizz! I totally understand food aversions, though. I haven’t been able to eat barley sugar lollies for more than 20 years due to a car-sickness incident.
I’m going to check out some Tbar stores tomorrow. I don’t think that we have any good ones anymore.
PS You can buy Pandaroo coconut water in the tins from Woolworths at Indooroopilly for $1.39 each, cheaper even than the special rate the Asian-grocery-store-lady gives us next to Sarah’s. It’s very yummy and claims to have no added sugar. That coconut water got me through my final uni project.
Try the Gluten Free store on the corner of Ruthven and Long. I don’t know if it has coconut water but it has a few other goodies, including awesome rice bread :0)
If you need anything from Bris let me know and I can bring it back with me.
Wow! You lived in PNG as a child? I lived in the ‘burbs. Booo.
I did, for about six years. A long time ago now.. :)
[...] been consuming half a glass at a time, especially when I’ve been feeling sick, because, like coconut water, it’s a great way to get some nutrition down the hatch without my body [...]