The enduring appeal of refreshing tender coconuts
You can now buy tender coconut daily through subscriptions and concentrates
The past few weeks, I have developed a routine of stopping by the fire station near the Saket Complex on weekends to buy and drink a tender coconut from a vendor near Rustomjee Urbania Festival Plaza’s exit gate. The vendor charges forty-five rupees per tender coconut and increases his rate to sixty rupees if you order a large tender coconut. I request patli malai (or light cream) nuts that the vendor opens after consuming the water to help me enjoy the jelly or tender coconut meat.
As summer sets in India, tender coconuts are nature’s blessings to ward off heat and rehydrate ourselves with a natural product with minimal calories and numerous health benefits. Most of the tender coconuts you buy on the roads in the Mumbai region arrive by truck from Karnataka. Early mornings, you can see these trucks drop off bunches of tender coconuts for push-cart and bicycle vendors, who then sell the nuts to consumers on the streets.
With the hike in diesel prices over the past two years, truck freight has gone up and inflated tender coconut’s price to nearly fifty rupees a nut at Mumbai. The dry districts of Karnataka originate most of Mumbai’s tender coconuts, and such nuts from regions of low rainfall are sweeter and more appealing to consumers.
During the COVID-19 pandemic, tender coconuts were in high demand as they are a good source of nutrition and rehydration for convalescing patients. One of the signs that an apartment had a COVID-19 patient was the daily presence of open tender coconuts outside its doors.
I prepared the following guide to select tender coconuts by referring to the Coconut Seller website that markets fresh coconuts, dry coconuts, and other coconut tree products.
As green coconuts have more water than those with brown husk, you must choose the ones with the greenest color. Discoloration of the green skin could be a sign of microbial growth though bruising during transportation could also cause scratches on the skin.
Younger tender coconuts contain more and sweeter water than older nuts which are closer to becoming coconuts. If a tender coconut is more aged, its water is tasteless.
As rounder the tender coconut, more the water it has, choose round ones than oblong ones.
Tender coconut with more water will not make water sloshing sound from inside when you shake it, whereas one with less water will make noise when you shake it.
When you check the top and the bottom of the tender coconut, it must be free of softness (a sign of rot) or a musty odor. In addition, you must avoid a nut with external infection signs, as any microbial infection on the exteriors of a tender coconut can reach the interiors and contaminate the water inside.
King Coconuts: Coconut Seller also describes the orange King Coconut common in Sri Lanka and grown by Indian farmers in Tamil Nadu and Karnataka. The presence of carotenoid pigments in its skin makes King coconuts orangish. Though you may not find such variety across India, these coconuts are more popular for their water. King Coconuts have a higher volume of water inside that is sweeter than the water from regular green tender coconuts.
Benefits of consuming tender coconut water: Tender coconut sources fiber, sugars, protein, vitamin C, minerals, magnesium, manganese, potassium, sodium, and calcium.
The potassium in them helps keep kidneys healthy. The diuretic nature of tender coconut water helps prevent kidney stones by flushing water and stone-forming minerals out of the body. While tender coconut fiber helps bowel movement, the water is a good aid in recovery after intestinal disorders like ulcers, infections, and food poisoning.
Tender coconut water’s anti-oxidants help the body fight free radical damage, oxidative stress, and inflammation. With its natural electrolytes, tender coconut is a perfect hydrating solution to protect your skin, manage your weight (prevent weight gain and help in weight loss), and remain focused for optimal cognitive functioning. It also enables you to maintain skin tone, avoid aging by fighting acne, and improve skin texture. In addition, tender coconut water is antibacterial, antiviral, and anti-inflammatory. Tender coconut water is the most refreshing drink in summer as it replenishes electrolytes you lose by sweating due to high temperatures.
The challenges of sourcing tender coconut for daily consumption have spawned business innovations across India. While you can find branded Coco Express carts with chilled tender coconuts across India, numerous packaged coconut brands are available at supermarkets. However, Indian consumers prefer fresh products and consume tender coconut on the streets from vendors. Therefore, we share two innovative approaches to getting tender coconuts with our readers.
Daily tender coconut subscription: Bangalore’s Daily Coco has a tender coconut subscription offering consumers daily, weekly, monthly, or quarterly subscriptions they deliver each morning. Daily Coco allows you to order any number and manage your subscription by pausing or resuming it as per your need, like other food subscriptions. However, they only sell their products in Bangalore.
Tender coconut water concentrate in a sachet: I used a Shreejal sachet costing just INR 10 years ago and was impressed how this inexpensive product dissolved into 220 ml. of water to become tender coconut water. There is no residue in the drink you prepare from Shreejal tender coconut water powder, and it tastes exactly like tender coconut water. Without telling someone they consumed Shreejal powder concentrate drink, they would not guess that the tender coconut water was not fresh. We have been carrying Shreejal sachets on travel. We have been very impressed by how simply mixing the granules in water produces tender coconut water anytime we need it, wherever we are.
Shreejal unique selling proposition is that it is a very inexpensive tender coconut drink concentrate that you can easily carry anywhere to make a 220 ml. drink from a sachet the size and weight of a credit card. Compare its price with the price of fresh tender coconut available on the streets, and you will realize you are saving 74% on the price (one tender coconut costs about INR 45 on Mumbai streets now, and most street vendors charge the same). Shreejal now costs just INR 12 per sachet, which you can buy in the twenties for INR 240 or in hundreds for INR 2400. The makers of Shreejal use indigenous technology with the Coconut Development Board of the Government of India supporting the promotion of such processed coconut water concentrate products.
Great knowing. Thanks