Ever have something that bugs you all the time and yet, you can’t find the answer? I tried Google It but can’t find what I wanted.
Blame this on Samm who tagged me on some childhood food meme. I wanted to write something about coconuts. Instead, I am now transported back to my childhood.
I lived in a little village (kampung la) with swaying coconut palms. But life is not that idyllic because old nuts are life-threatening. They can and had dropped on people’s heads, cracking the skull and the person dropped dead on the spot.
When I was born, i.e. when my mom was in the hospital, labouring to deliver me, a coconut tree fell on our kitchen roof. Dramatic ya?
Then, I remember catching some black beetles with orangey stripe from coconut trees and tie their leg with a thread (just one leg). After that, I have a live flying beetle on remote control! It was so fun having the creature buzz-buzzing and yet, can’t fly away. After a few days of torturing it, I think I let it go….or did I fry and eat it? Hmmm…can’t remember.
But what I really wanted to write about coconuts as food are:
1) My mom used to make sagun for me from grated coconut. She dry fried the grated coconut with sugar and some tapioca flour (if I remember correctly) till it becomes crispy, sweet, milky powdery stuffs. Put them in your mouth and talk. Woo hoo, nice. The crumbs fly all over. *piak* Got slapped for sure.
2) Coconut oil is heavenly. They smell so lovely.
but what I am pulling my hairs out is this:
Who knows the name of the white, bulbous thing in old coconuts? It is crunchy and sweet. In Hokkien, we call it ‘tombong’. I know fish fish’s food blog had featured it before but fish fish’s blog has no search box. Plus it is not nice to ask fish fish for the link on her birthday.
Sigh…I think I will go find some coconut leaves and make lidi brooms. Hey, it was therapeutic to slice off the green leaves, leaving the hard twig-like stems. Dry it under the sun for a few days and tie those tiny twigs into a bunch and there you have it, a broom. Very similar to those used by witches, and Harry Potter.
Who can tell me the name of the white thing and what is it? The prize is an old coconut.
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12:58 pm on December 5th, 2005 1
Dear Lilian,
You have been officially….. TAGGED! kekeke, please visit my site for details. Thank you!
Cheers!
1:06 pm on December 5th, 2005 2
Haha, thank god i got ya first. My, u’re HOT hoh. EEERRRM, sorry, i’m not of much help on ur coconut thingy.
1:07 pm on December 5th, 2005 3
Ayoh , not going to rack my brain if you’re offering Lin Pek as the prize (old coconut), . I only remembered it being called the “heart”
1:08 pm on December 5th, 2005 4
romantic, when you said that the white thing is ‘heart’ I think you actually meant jantung pisang (which is not the white thing). Sorry, Lillian, I have no idea what it is called.
1:17 pm on December 5th, 2005 5
hmm something like ‘umbuk’, or ‘umbut’ (in malay)? dunno, hehe
1:43 pm on December 5th, 2005 6
q – I Google. Umbut is something from palm trees but this one is inside the coconut itself.
Mia – Tks anyway.
Romantic – Yeah, it is like a heart, the size of a small apple inside the coconut.
Samm & JoeC – I think it was Boo_licious of masak-masak who tagged me, months ago. So, Joe is the third one.
2:38 pm on December 5th, 2005 7
santan
3:00 pm on December 5th, 2005 8
not santan lar kiasi….lol
lilian, i know wat u’re talking abt, i love it too. damn nice!! daddy used to take it from the market for me coz all the coconut/santan sellers dun want it. umbut is not right either.
i found it! i found it!! but no idea wat it’s called. blek! ‘If a coconut is allowed to fully ripen on the tree, and then falls onto a suitable surface, it will start to germinate; this forms the last food phase. As the coconut germinates a white sponge-like ball develops within the shell, absorbing the liquid and hard meat. The sponge can be eaten. It is sweet and is, in taste and texture, rather like spun sugar candy. Care must be taken with this part of the fruit however, because after a certain point in its development it becomes poisonous.”
http://www.ms-starship.com/sciencenew/coconuts_and_copra.htm
3:01 pm on December 5th, 2005 9
Isn’t that the coconut heart? But usually use young coconuts ba?
3:18 pm on December 5th, 2005 10
Ha!! 5xmom, even it was my bd, no harm to ask for the link. ^_^
Hey, in Hakka, it is called Zai Pong. Yap… it is heavenly yummy!!
Ok, here’s the link:
http://kuishinbomeow.blogspot.com/2005/02/cny-eve-feb-8-pt-1.html
Got to get back to my work liao. Curi this 10 min to read your blog.
3:51 pm on December 5th, 2005 11
isi kelapa laaaa….
4:02 pm on December 5th, 2005 12
Got such thing meh?? I thought it’s the coconut flesh??? (those u get when u buy coconut drink… ) OK, I’ll check out the link.
4:18 pm on December 5th, 2005 13
no no…not isi kelapa, the strip which can scraped off right? but that’s not it. it’s like a spongy ball.
got lar helen..how come u dunno wan? i oso know n i LOVE it!
5:45 pm on December 5th, 2005 14
Here it is in scientific terms. The white fleshy edible part is the testa with an albuminous endosperm, the coconut meat. When dried it is known as Copra.
8:37 pm on December 5th, 2005 15
it’s called endosperm “tambong”. http://www.pssc.ttu.edu/agforestry/agforest/review.htm
remember there was an old hokkian song called “ung ku kau tambong”?
9:56 pm on December 5th, 2005 16
Since you say : “but fish fish’s blog has no search box”
Now, here is my lesson 101 on google. Even your site without the search engine, I can do this
“keyword site:kuishinbomeow.blogspot.com”
e.g.
coconut site:kuishinbomeow.blogspot.com
Same apply to drliew site, for curious people want to know what RPCN stand for
10:09 pm on December 5th, 2005 17
I am lazy, I just check it out wikipedia.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Coconut
and it bring you to
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Heart-of-palm
Any plant seed start germination must be taken with great care. Naturally the seed will produce some poison to protect themself from being eaten.
Yeah, I am the google and wiki spoiler kekekekekekeke.
10:23 pm on December 5th, 2005 18
oppss. it is wrong. Nothing beat the Kew garden (If any Malaysia remember what Kew garden roles do to our country)
http://www.rbgkew.org.uk/ksheets/coconut.html
2:25 am on December 6th, 2005 19
“mia” Isnt jantung pisang the flower??
8:07 am on December 6th, 2005 20
ya. Its the flower
1:37 pm on December 6th, 2005 21
lilian,
it’s TUMBONG KELAPA aka. tumbong nyiok as we orang penang call it… damn delicious, but very cooling, kalau makan sure kena asthma attack lor…
btw, ever tried the very soft & crunchy skin ( tempurung) of coconut that is cooked with curry… sheer heaven, beats umbut kelapa anytime!
2:13 pm on December 6th, 2005 22
And the old coconut prize goes to everyone for the suggestions! Thank you for solving the mystery.
Athene – tak pernah dengak pun.
2:29 pm on December 6th, 2005 23
lilian,
i ate that in Kelantan… still trying to look for it here in Penang
4:44 pm on December 6th, 2005 24
i think it shouldnt b a problem coz any santan seller in the market should have it, provided they perah the santan themselves for selling lar. anyway, good luck in looking for them. i havent had them for DONKEY yrs.
miss my daddy when i think of this coz he used to get it for me. ~sigh~
11:14 pm on December 6th, 2005 25
For those who are too lazy to check the kew garden url, it is called “Coconut Apple”.