Greetings!
Last Sunday morning after I arrived from checking my rice crops I saw that some of our young coconut fruits were ready for harvest. So, I took a steel long hook that I had used before then I started to harvest the young coconut fruits. Here in our country, the Philippines, a young coconut fruit is called "Buko" and a mature coconut fruit is called "Niyog". The difference between the two is the softness of the meat. By the way, cold buko juice is a very popular refreshment drink here in our county any time of the day all year long.
Harvesting Buko (Young Coconut Fruit)
Below is a gif image of me while I am harvesting the first buko.
I actually harvest a total of 5 young coconut fruits. I peeled all of them then I get all of their juices to make one of the most delicious and healthiest refreshment ever, "Buko Juice" (Young Coconut Juice). Just like I said above Buko Juice is one of the all-time and most popular refreshment of the Filipinos. In every local market that you go I am pretty sure that you will going to find a Buko Juice vendor.
Below are the young coconut fruits that I harvest...
Young coconut fruits (Buko)
Peeling the Young Coconut Fruit
Peeling the young coconut fruit is actually pretty easy and very enjoyable . Enjoyable because I only get to do it once or twice every year. Since the young coconuts still have soft skin I only used our kitchen cleaver to peel all of them. Below is a gif image of me while I am peeling a young coconut fruit. The kitchen is actually quite dull as can be seen on the gif image below but it is okay since I am in no hurry in peeling I actually enjoying this moment (peeling a young coconut fruit).
Peeling the young coconut fruits
Pouring the Young Coconut Juice
In the gif image below you can see that I used a quite big pitcher for the juice but to my surprise the pitcher got almost full. My wife then came after I pour the juice and she immediately tasted the forest juice and she said it is very delicious. BUko is actually one of the healthiest drink out there and it is also proven to cure UTI (Urinary Tract Infection).
Pouring the juice of the young coconut fruit into a pitcher
Keeping One Young Coconut Fruit
The image below shows how a young coconut fruit looks like when peeled. I am going to set aside this one after I get the juice so that I can cook one of my all-time favorite delicacy, Bukdayo. Bukayo is a delicacy that is cooked using only sugar and cooking oil. In short, Bukayo is a sweetened coconut fruit.
A peeled young coconut fruit
Splitting a Young Coconut Fruit
Splitting a young coconut fruit is actually pretty easy, you just need to knock in a circular motion using a bolo or a cleaver (which is the one that I used). I actually recorded in a video how I did it, so check out the video at the end of this blog. Again, I only get to do this once or twice a year so I am enjoying it very much.
Splitting a young coconut fruit into two
Unpeeled Splitted Young Coconut Fruit
One of the most enjoyable in splitting a young coconut fruit is when you can split the fruit without peeling it. Below is a photo of a Buko. As you can see in the photo, that's how a soft young coconut meat (buko meat) looks like. It is so soft it almost feel like a jelly or gelatin. This buko that I am holding does not last for a minute. After I splitted it my wife got it away and eat it right away. Eating the young coconut fruit meat is very enjoyable because it is delicious, fresh, and very healthy.
Splitted young coconut fruit
Scraping a Young Coconut Meat (Buko)
Below is a gif image of me on how I scrape a young coconut meat, doing this is very easy because the meat is very soft, it feels like you were scraping gelatin. If you guys get to but buko I suggest that you try to eat the meat the young coconut meat, I am telling you, it is delicious. And of course, the juice is also very delicious to drink it in itself. But you can add some sugar into the juice then chill it.
Scraping the meat of a young coconut fruit
Making the Buko Juice
Again guys, if you have the chance, I do recommend that you try to drink the juice on its own so that you can experience how it tastes. It is not everyday that you get to drink this kind of juice. Aside from drinking the juice on its own you can add some sugar to the juice then add some ice of chill it in the fridge. A chilled sweet juice is very very nice to drink.
In making the buko juice I added some sugar just to add some sweetness to the juice...
Putting some sugar into the coconut juice
Then I added a block of ice into it to make it chilled faster than putting it in the fridge...
Putting ice
And voila, the Buko Juice is done...
It is done, let's drink!
Below are two short videos of me while I am harvesting and peeling the young coconut fruit (including making the Buko Juice)
And that's how my Sunday goes, I hope to harvest some Buko again in the coming months so that I can share the experience here in the community.
That is all for now guys, catch you up with the next one. Wishing you all safety, good health, and abundance.
I am a Computer Engineer, blogger, farmer, gardener, father, and husband. I love countryside living, nature, and farming (rice/vegetables), and has two decades of experience as an I.T. professional
