Nata de coco, what an odd treat!
As y’all know I am kinda a weird person. I love grocery shopping at strange places and unique stuff. (not gross unique) On my last venture to the international market on the far side of Vegas, I encountered this wonderful brightly colored package of cubes. I hesitated, but eventually put them in my basket. They looked like a packet of healthy fun, but I had NO idea what nata de coco was other than a vague assumption that coco meant coconut. Yes, I could have cheated and pulled out my phone and searched, but sometimes knowing what is in things ruins them before you try them.
Jubes come in several flavors, lychee, lime, mango, grape, and original. The mango, that I selected seemed relatively harmless and one of only 2 options at this location. They immediately got placed in the fridge with good intentions. Days, and weeks passed. I just wasn’t ready for being disappointed in these things. Finally, on a day where I was really trying to eat up the odds and ends in the cupboards and fridge (you know, the canned fruit, and odd packs of instant oatmeal) I decided to give these a whirl.
Upon opening them they are a mostly translucent, slightly opaque cube. Soft, but firm, like the top of jello when you try to cool it too quick. They smelled ok. Grabbing a fork I dug in. OH JUBES! Where have you been all of my life? These odd little guys were my newfound treasure! The texture was so off. They were chewy, but not gummy. They had a bite, but not hard. It was like the goober “tapioca pearls” at the bottom of bubble tea (or boba tea) but slighly firmer. Oh these we weird! They defied any texture I had ever encountered before. To be fair the flavor what…well mango. Nothing magical there, but it was not gross, so being as I loved the consistency, these were absolutely awesome!
So now that I loved these, I wanted to know what nata was. Wikipedia says:
“Nata de coco is a chewy, translucent, jelly-like food product produced by the fermentation of coconut water, which gets through the production of microbial cellulose by Acetobacter xylinum. It is most commonly sweetened as candy for dessret, and can accompany many things including pickles, drinks, ice cream, puddings, and fruit mixes. The product originates in the Phillipines.”
Fantastic! Fermented coconut water…glad I didn’t read that first. I’m not big on many fermented things, but these proved me wrong! I also thought they would be great in a glass with a drink to see how many people would be weirded out that their ice doesn’t melt. Like a cocktail would be perfect!
Additionally these are “Fat Free” but have only 288 calories in the package, but they do pack on some sugar at 72 grams, however you get 2 grams of fiber (whahoo)
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