Everything you eat in the city is incredibly expensive. To obtain what you need and want, money must be spent. In the city, coconuts—also known as "buko" in Filipino—are highly popular. Although everyone craves buko juice, the price is high, especially in malls. It has consistently been my favorite, but because I'm trying to save money, I no longer purchase buko juice in cups or bottles. I'm just waiting to get back home, where I can have it without paying money.
It's November first week, a long break for students from school. From election day to the public holidays in the Philippines, All Saints' and All Souls' Day, when establishments and educational institutions are closed. So as for this break, why not make these days fruitful?
Everyone is at home and has made plans to get buko, not only for its juice but also for the purpose of making buko lamaw. My all-time favorite Filipino beverage or dessert is buko lamaw. It is prepared by mixing up the scraped young coconut meat and water with milk, sugar, or just condensed milk, and biscuits. While my cousin and I went to get buko, my sister went to the marketplace to buy condensed milk and biscuits.
So, my dear Hivers, please allow me to invite you to join me on this next adventure I have in our amazing province! Without further ado, let's go!
IT'S BUKO DAY!
My male cousin and I proceeded to get coconuts by having him climb the coconut tree. Since it's just the two of us, as is my usual practice, I'm just down here waiting for him to drop a coconut so that I can see if the meat is tender enough for the buko lamaw.
He dropped one, so I used a dagger to smash it, but as you can see, the flesh is still too young, not suitable for making buko lamaw.
So he dropped another one, and as you can see, it's perfect.
Thus, upon informing him, he then dropped the rest of the coconuts from the bunch. Then, we proceeded to a different tree to gather more coconuts and continued our routine. In total, this is what we obtained from two different coconut palm trees.
As there were a lot of coconuts, I called my other cousins to help me scrape them. We spoon-scraped the flesh off while saving the water.
After that, we continued to do it at home, and my sister finished it off by mixing the ingredients.
After dinner, we enjoyed the finished product and shared it with our neighbors. Now, here it is, my very favorite buko lamaw fresh from the tree!
Additionally, I'll give you the steps here so that you can make the buko lamaw with better guidance because maybe in case you might ever need it.
Make sure that the coconut flesh is young and good enough to eat.
Scrape the flesh, keep the water, and put it in any storage solution you have. In our case, we just used a spoon, but you can use a coconut scraper for better results.
Prepare milk, sugar, or condensed milk. In our case, we consistently use condensed milk alone, since it already gives enough sweetness. It all depends on your taste preferences.
Crush the biscuits.
Mix all the ingredients with the coconut water and flesh.
Put it inside the refrigerator, or you can just put ice on it. After that, it is all set and good to go!
Note: Some people add other ingredients. Sometimes, we also mix it with Royal, yes, the orange soft drink, but just occasionally. Most of the time, what we usually do is what I mentioned above.
That's all for my weekend experience, dear Hivers! I'll be glad to share more with you soon. I sincerely appreciate you taking the time to read my blog. May the speed force be with you, and I'll see you all around! ( ◜‿◝ )♡