Fresh Coconut Water from the Shore Stop
The clear water of a young coconut, opened with a cutlass blow and drunk through a straw. Naturally sweet and thirst-quenching, with nothing added: the simplest and most precious drink of the traveler.
The clear water of a young coconut, opened with a cutlass blow and drunk through a straw. Naturally sweet and thirst-quenching, with nothing added: the simplest and most precious drink of the traveler.
The water in my tank, at the end of a long crossing, smelled of iron and mud, and I drank it anyway, out of necessity. So when an islander would open a still-green coconut with a sure stroke and hand it to me, its cool water seemed the purest of beverages. You drink it as is, right from the shell — there is nothing to add, and that is its whole genius.
- •Young green coconut — one per person (everything)
Fresh Coconut Water from the Shore Stop
The clear water of a young coconut, opened with a cutlass blow and drunk through a straw. Naturally sweet and thirst-quenching, with nothing added: the simplest and most precious drink of the traveler.
Why this dish? After the rationed, stale fresh water of the Firecrest, the clear, sweet water of a young coconut picked at a shore stop was a blessing for Gerbault. Drinking straight from the nut was touching land with one's lips.
The water in my tank, at the end of a long crossing, smelled of iron and mud, and I drank it anyway, out of necessity. So when an islander would open a still-green coconut with a sure stroke and hand it to me, its cool water seemed the purest of beverages. You drink it as is, right from the shell — there is nothing to add, and that is its whole genius.
Ingredients (period version)
- Young green coconut — one per person (everything)
Ingredients
- Young coconut (drinking coconut) — 1 per person (everything)
- Crushed ice — optional (coolness)
- Lime — a few drops, optional (zip)
Method
- Choose a young coconut (still light-colored shell), heavy: that means it's full of water.
- Carefully pierce the top (with a coconut opener or by cutting a lid with a sturdy knife).
- Insert a straw and drink directly, or pour the water into a glass over crushed ice.
- For a zesty version, add a few drops of lime.
- Once the water is drunk, crack the coconut open and scrape out the young gelatinous flesh with a spoon: a bonus dessert.
How it was made : In the tropics, young coconut water was — and still is — the traveler's drink: sterile in its shell, cool, sweet, and hydrating. For a sailor deprived of clean fresh water, it was a free luxury fallen from the trees.
The contemporary twist : Served in the nut with a bamboo straw and a lime slice, it's the perfect travelogue cliché — except Gerbault really lived it.
Sources : Alain Gerbault, À la poursuite du soleil, 1929
Alain Gerbault · Charactorium