Mid Week Snack: How To Make Coconut Candy

Nothing is as  exciting as having a home made snack, the experiment and the joy of getting it right (or wrong, if you fail the first time around), it is simply amazing. This is  a simple tutorial on how to make coconut candy.

Ingredients

• 1 head of fresh coconut with the juice
• 200g icing sugar (powdered sugar)
• Water

Before you make the Nigerian Coconut Candy

Break the coconut, making sure to collect the coconut juice from it. Remove the fleshy part from the shells and grate it into small pieces. Make sure to grate along the fleshy part of the coconut rather than across it. This is so that you’ll have long thin coconut pieces rather than a mass of grated coconut.

Directions

• Pour the coconut juice into the pot.
• Add the icing sugar (powdered sugar). Stir.
• Add the tiny coconut pieces and stir.
• Add water to the same level as the coconut pieces.
• Cover the pot and set to boil at high heat.
• Once the contents start boiling, stir continuously till all the water is just about evaporated.
• Reduce to low heat and continue stirring.
• At a time, you will notice that the contents have started sticking together. That is the sugar caramelising.
• Keep stirring till the coconut pieces start turning slightly brown.
• Turn off the heat and scoop the very hot coconut candy onto a flat plate and leave to cool down.
• 

Note

The coconut candy should be sticky when cold. It should not be dry. You can store it in the freezer for up to a month. This is supposed to be a very sweet snack that is why all that sugar is used in the preparation but feel free to reduce the quantity of sugar. The caramel from the sugar can be tough to wash off the pot when it has cooled down. The best way to wash this off very hot water as soon as you are done with making the snack. Once cold, you can serve as dessert or eat it as a snack.

Photo Credit: Avartsy Cooking