Called water coconut because the tree grows underwater, to distinguish it from periwinkle.
The coconut trees silently poked down to the water's edge, tasting to see if the water was salty or acidic. Because its fate was tied to the canals of brackish water areas, waiting, not knowing when it would be able to taste the fresh water completely.
The coconut tree we often see in Ben Tre lives on land, has a tall, woody trunk, and large fruits that grow in clusters; split open the coconut and there is water inside, it is a periwinkle tree.
The coconut tree grows under the water's edge, has a short trunk, large and long leaves; the small dark brown fruit grows in a bunch like a ball, which is the water coconut.
People use water coconut leaves to roof their houses, wrap cakes, and weave hats; sweep the yard with brooms made from water coconut stems; and use the rest as firewood. In addition, every time the water coconut tree bears fruit, people have another gift from the water coconut tree: the coconut.
Water coconuts bear fruit all year round, but the most fruit is during the flood season - from June to October of the lunar calendar. During this period, fresh water and alluvium flow to nourish the trees, so the trees grow well.
Water coconut fruit grows in bunches, clustered close to the stem.
Water coconuts grow in bunches, the fruits grow close to the stem, when separated, each fruit is oval-shaped. In each fruit, the end that is inside is light in color, the end that is outside is dark in color. When split open, there is a small layer of coconut meat inside, which people commonly call coconut flesh or coconut rice.
To get delicious coconut meat, the picker must be observant. If the coconut skin is shiny and bright, the bunch of coconuts is still young and has no coconut meat. If the coconut skin is dark, black and a bit rough, the bunch of coconuts is old and has thick and hard meat. A delicious bunch of water coconuts must be between these two stages.
Coconut rice has a fatty, chewy and crunchy taste.
After picking a bunch of coconuts, people split the coconut in half, use a spoon to scrape out the coconut meat, and eat it. The coconut meat has the fragrant smell of straw and grass; it is fatty and sweet; it is chewy and crunchy, filling your teeth. To be more sophisticated, people eat it with coconut milk, sugar water, and peanuts, called coconut water dessert.
They take coconut milk (periwinkle) and make candy; boil water, add pandan leaves, ginger, rock sugar to make syrup; roast peanuts, peel off the shells. When eating, take a bowl of coconut rice, pour coconut milk and syrup on top, sprinkle some peanuts to make coconut rice dessert. Eating like this will increase the fattiness and sweetness of the coconut rice.
According to Oriental medicine, coconut is cold in nature, so when cooking, people add a few slices of ginger, which is hot in nature, to balance it so that the person eating it does not get a cold stomach.
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