Manalog

Not exactly sure if this is the correct baranguay, but this is where I experienced drinking young coconut.  Apparently coconuts are a solid source of income for some hinunangnons, and in addition to eating and selling coconuts, I’ve also seen the husks used to fuel the fire used when grilling meat.

The picture below shows a Hinunangnon climbing a coconut tree to chop down a few coconuts.  And he straight up climbed this really tall tree – it had to be at least 30 feet up (I’m thinking like a three story house – and he didn’t have any ropes or equipment to help him climb up the tree.

 

It’s hard for me to describe what young coconut tastes like; it’s not sweet; it’s not sour or bitter; but it’s not bland either; and it doesn’t taste like the sweet coconut flavor Americans are used to tasting in candy bars.  It has a distinct flavor that is pleasant and refreshing.  What I can say is that those coconut drinks that are being bottled and sold in supermarkets in the States, that’s pretty much how young coconut tastes. Of course there’s nothing like having some guy climb up a tree and chop down the coconut that you point to and then drinking straight from said coconut – that’s an experience – but as far as taste, the one’s in the supermarkets taste pretty close.