Jungle Fruit & Coconut Candy

The Mekong Delta is land of the coconuts. They’re everywhere. Coconuts hang from trees, coconuts lay piled by the ton in large, low-slung boats. Naturally, I ate a few coconuts.

On the first day, my tour group piled into a big rickety boat that served as our mode of transport for the weekend. Immediately, we were handed a huge coconut. “Ahh yess,” I thought as I sipped its sweet, fresh water. “This is the life.” Once the water was gone, our guide split open the coconuts to reveal sweet flesh inside. Soft, jelly-like, and easily scoopable, the flesh tasted like someone had filled the coconut with a delicious custard. That someone was Mother Nature, obvs.

Plus our guide carved a little spoon out of the coconut husk. Genius.

As we floated past lush green trees, that Guns N’ Roses song popped into my head where they sing “Welcome to the Jungle! Welcome to the Jungle let it bring you to your nanannananannaakneeeeskneeees.” Upon further googling I learned that last part is actually spelled “shun n-n-n-n-n-n-n-n knees, knees.” But my interpretation is more dynamic, no?

Living The Life amiright? Welcome to the jungle, indeed. — Living **The Life** amiright? Welcome to the jungle, indeed.

What do you do when life gives you coconuts? Make coconut candy, of course.

We visited a small factory that crafts delicious candy. They had a table full of samples so of course I had one (ok, two) of everything. Samples are my jam.

The top is sesame candy, the white sliver is candied coconut meat, middle two wrappers are coconut candy (chocolate and pandan-flavored), the little ball is candied tamarind, and the last one tasted like a caramel crisp. Yum!

I loved watching how they craft the candy too. After heating fresh coconut milk with sugar in a large pot, the liquid candy is poured into wooden slats. So there’s no need for cutting the goo into strips, because it’s already molded that way.

Isn’t it cool how the coconut candy oozes down the board?

Plus the wrapping is edible. Yup. You can just pop the whole thing in your mouth because it’s wrapped in rice paper.

In an effort to balance all of that candy, we moved on to a fruit tasting. Omg I loved this. Mostly because I love trying new things and also because I love fruit. Not in a crazy Fruitarian way à la Steve Jobs or Jesse Itzler, who prescribes an “only fruit before noon” diet. But I do love fruit, and this was amazingly fresh.

My favorite is rambutan, which I’d eaten in Hanoi. It’s the fruit that’s red, yellow, fuzzy, and kinda looks like it comes from another planet. With the texture of a grape and a sweeter flavor, they’re definitely one of the best fruits I tried in Vietnam. A relative of the rambutan is the longan. It’s the brown spherical fruit which, upon opening, also has a grape-like texture. Sort of slimy, but in a good way. Inside, there’s one large pit that you chew around and spit out.

This photo is from when I ate rambutan while cruising Ha Long Bay. See how the top is translucent, like a peeled green grape?

Peeled longan fruit also has a grape-like texture

Chili salt brings out the natural sweetness of the fruit

As you can imagine, the pineapple was delicious. A quick dip in the chili salt amped up its flavor even more. It was sweet, salty, tart, spicy. I didn’t expect chili salt to be delicious. But you know how adding salt to baked goods brings out the sweetness even more? Same thing here. Salt makes the fruit taste sweeter, and the dried chilis make it even more refreshing. Just like all things salted caramel is a trend that’s here to stay, I think chili salt on fruit will remain part of my pantry too.

Oh and the bananas! To be honest, I’m not the biggest banana fan. I’ll eat them straight from the fridge and slightly green (gross, I know). Or I’ll purée them in a smoothie. Or banana bread! I mean who doesn’t like banana bread? But when they’ve gone spotty and smell pungent? Ehh I’ll pass. So imagine my surprise when I tasted one of these chubby baby bananas. They were so sweet and creamy it was like eating the best banana pudding custard. But natural, and with a peel. It reminded me that bananas at home taste one-sided because they are literally one variety.

Last, we tried water apple. I’d never heard of this before visiting Vietnam, and I was intrigued by the name. The exterior is waxy and shiny, like they’ve been painted. Inside, the texture is akin to apple; it’s crunchy and light. But it tastes nothing like apple. It’s quite bland, actually. Refreshing though. I imagine this makes an excellent thirst quencher on hot summer days.