Traditional coconut farmers – Maybe every coconut sugar user will never know how difficult it is to process coconut sap into ready-to-consume coconut sugar. In the previous article, we explained that coconut sugar is a natural sugar made from the juice of coconut flower stems or coconut sap. Coconut sap has a white color like rice soaking water with a sweet and slightly coconut aroma. This sweet liquid is the main raw material for coconut sugar which is later cooked until it thickens into a coconut sugar solution.
Each productive coconut tree only produces 2 – 4 liters of coconut sap every day. This is also influenced by weather conditions and rainfall around the coconut plantation. The coconut sap harvest is harvested directly by traditional coconut farmers who are sometimes also producers of traditional coconut sugar. So how do you process coconut sap into coconut sugar?
Making coconut sugar by traditional coconut farmers
The traditional technique of making coconut sugar has been a skill passed down from generation to generation by the ancestors of the farmers. Initially, farmers took coconut sap from coconut flower stems that were almost flowering (in Javanese it is called Mayang).
The mayang stem is split slightly to create an outlet for the coconut flower juice or sap. Then the coconut farmers place a container to hold the sap for several hours (usually called pongkor) until the pongkor is full. Each mayang stem produces around 400 – 500 ml of coconut sap alone. The farmers wait on the coconut trees until the sap is filled in the pongkor. The unique thing is that traditional farmers climb into coconut trees without using any safety equipment or safety ropes. When the pongkor is full, they tie it around their waist and then lower it down.
How to process it
In some places, farmers process the coconut sap they harvest themselves into traditional coconut sugar. Initially, the harvested coconut sap is cooked in a large stove over burning wood embers. They don’t use gas stoves or electric stoves to cook it. This is because it maintains the naturalness of coconut sugar and adds to the delicious aroma of coconut sugar. The burning smoke will make the coconut sugar smell a little smoky, but this is actually what makes the coconut sugar more delicious. After being cooked until thickened, the liquid coconut sugar is then processed by molding or can be packaged directly into liquid sugar.
If you want to make granulated coconut sugar, cool the thickened coconut sugar liquid until it hardens. Then the coconut sugar is filtered and sifted until it becomes coarse grains or granules. The coconut sugar granules resulting from the sieve can be packaged into coconut sugar ready for sale in bulk packaging or retail packaging.
So how? Are you interested in making your coconut? or prefer to buy it to consume it?
