Candied Coconut – Coban, Guatemala

Candied Coconut is coconut meat boiled in water and unrefined sugar. It seems like an easy enough recipe but the quality of ingredients make all the difference.  Throughout Latin America you can find every type of candied fruit and vegetable, but coconut has a very special place regardless of the country.

Walking through the markets of Alta Verapaz in Guatemala, I saw many women selling candied fruit in its syrup. I had never seen this, I have always seen the candied fruit sold in a dried state.

I love walking the public markets when I travel, I learn more about cuisine this way than eating at fine dining restaurants. I generally wander around a bit trying to act like I know what I’m doing and I watch what other people are doing. In the street market of Cobán, I saw hundreds of women, all wearing the same thing, selling the very few items they had managed to grow, fatten, or make at home.

Many women had baskets covered with woven textile and only they were allowed to lift it. I understood that they were trying to keep something warm so I didn’t want to ask them to show me what they had unless I wanted to buy. So my technique was to stand next to them until someone else came to buy from them. Once I saw what they had, I would buy or not, but I got to see what they had. Even though this was Guatemala, some women did not speak Spanish, only Queche Maya. 

I finally managed to stand next to the right woman. When she pulled off the cloth she had bucket full of candied coconut floating in a dark burgundy, glossy syrup. I wanted it but didn’t know how to ask for it. She finally looked at me and asked if I wanted some and I said yes. She took a ladle, grabbed some of the syrup and coconut chunks and poured it into a little plastic bag and tied with a knot.

This is a strange thing to eat on the streets so I had to patiently carry my little warm, squishy bag back to my hotel. I can’t say this is the first time I have stormed into my hotel room in a hurry to taste a dessert, pastry, or candy. I like to photograph my food so my patience is always fighting with my gluttony. It was delicious, sweet, chewy, smokey all enveloped in a slightly burnt caramel. That syrup would have been perfect for pancakes or ice cream. 

Although it is always hard to replicate a flavor or feeling of a place this recipe gets me close enough. Making this at home is not that hard, you just need a fresh brown coconut and some unrefined sugar.

I was in Guatemala to teach a chocolate making class and this is how we softened the meat of the coconut so we could remove it easily.

Once it is hot it is easier to break open and grab the meat of the coconut. 

Drink or toss the coconut water and put all of the coconut chunks in a heavy pot. Add water and sugar and cook for many hours. 

The candied coconut that I bought in Guatemala was made by boiling at night then allowed to sit on the fire as it died out, until the morning.  There is no way to say, high heat, medium heat, etc. It’s more about using your common sense. And practice. 

Many recipes I learn while traveling and I recreate them at home with stoves and modern tools. This recipe has been the only one that I prefer to make in the jungle or near sugar cane factories. The simplicity of only being coconut and sugar means these two ingredients have to be the best available.

Having fresh coconut is important. You can buy them at most grocery stores. You can find the unrefined sugar at any Latin, Indian, or Thai grocery store. It might be called panela, jaggery, piloncillo, or rapadura. It has to be dark and in a square or cone or some shape like this. It shouldn’t be powdered. 

Below is what you are looking for. The different shades tell you the amount of molasses still in the sugar. Sometimes this is also good to eat on it’s own. 

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