A WORD ABOUT COCONUT

Creamed coconut is a sweetened, condensed coconut paste that is usually sold in 7-ounce packages in Latin markets. It looks, truthfully, like a bar of soap but, thankfully, tastes a lot better. An equal measure of canned sweetened cream of coconut (such as Coco Lopez) can be substituted.

Coconut water, the liquid inside coconuts, is used in cooking and for drinks. Around the Caribbean, Spanish-speaking people buy a coco frio from vendors to beat the heat on hot days. Dotted along the highway are stands with coolers full of immature coconuts still in their husks. Vendors reach in, lop the top off one with a machete, and hand it over. Stick a straw in the coconut and sip the chilled coconut water. Heaven in summer.

One level up on the flavor scale is coconut milk, made by grating fresh coconut meat into the coconut water, simmering it, and then straining the liquid. I used to make coconut milk that way, but I don’t anymore. Canned coconut milk is now widely available in the Latin and Asian sections of many supermarkets. Do not confuse canned coconut milk with sweetened cream of coconut, which is very sweet and is used to make drinks such as pifia colada.