Buko salad, usually anglicized as young coconut salad, is a Filipino

fruit salad Fruit salad is a dish consisting of various kinds of fruit, sometimes served in a liquid, either their juices or a syrup. In different forms, fruit salad can be served as an appetizer or a side as a salad. A fruit salad is sometimes known as a ...

dessert Dessert is a course (food), course that concludes a meal; the course consists of sweet foods, such as cake, biscuit, ice cream, and possibly a beverage, such as dessert wine or liqueur. Some cultures sweeten foods that are more commonly umami, ...

made from strips of fresh young

coconut The coconut tree (''Cocos nucifera'') is a member of the palm tree family (biology), family (Arecaceae) and the only living species of the genus ''Cocos''. The term "coconut" (or the archaic "cocoanut") can refer to the whole coconut palm, ...

(''buko'') with sweetened

milk Milk is a white liquid food produced by the mammary glands of lactating mammals. It is the primary source of nutrition for young mammals (including breastfeeding, breastfed human infants) before they are able to digestion, digest solid food. ...

cream Cream is a dairy product composed of the higher-fat layer skimmed from the top of milk before homogenization. In un-homogenized milk, the fat, which is less dense, eventually rises to the top. In the industrial production of cream, this proces ...

and various other ingredients. It is one of the most popular and ubiquitous Filipino desserts served during celebrations and '' fiestas''. By changing the ratio of milk, ''buko salad'' desserts can also become beverages (usually chilled or with shaved ice), known generally as ''

samalamig Samalamig, also known as palamig, is a collective term for various Filipino sweet chilled beverages that usually include jelly-like ingredients. They come in various flavors, and are commonly sold by street vendors as refreshments. Typical i ...

''. A frozen dessert version of the dish is known as

ice buko Ice buko, also known as buko ice candy or coconut popsicle, is a Filipino frozen dessert made from condensed milk, young coconut (''buko'') strips, and coconut water. It is basically a frozen version of the buko salad. They can be sold on pop ...

Variants

Buko salad can have many variations as it can incorporate numerous other ingredients ranging from fruits, ''

gulaman ''Gulaman'', in Filipino cuisine, is a bar, or powdered form, of dried agar or carrageenan extracted from edible seaweed used to make jelly-like desserts. In common usage, it also usually refers to the refreshment '' sago't gulaman'', somet ...

'' (agar) jellies,

sago Sago () is a starch extracted from the pith, or spongy core tissue, of various tropical palm stems, especially those of ''Metroxylon sagu''. It is a major staple food for the lowland peoples of New Guinea and the Maluku Islands, where it is c ...

, kaong,

tapioca pearl A tapioca pearl, also known as tapioca ball, is an edible translucent sphere produced from tapioca, a starch made from the cassava root . They originated as a cheaper alternative to sago in Southeast Asian cuisine. When used as an ingredient in ...

s, ''

nata de coco ''Nata de coco'', also marketed as coconut gel, is a chewy, translucent, jelly-like food produced by the fermentation of coconut water, which gels through the production of microbial cellulose by '' Komagataeibacter xylinus''. Originating i ...

'',

macapuno Macapuno, also called coconut sport, is a naturally occurring coconut cultivar that has an abnormal development of the endosperm. The result of this abnormal development is a soft translucent jelly-like flesh that fills almost the entire central ...

, and others. Some versions however are popular enough to be considered as distinct subtypes. They include:

Buko halo

Buko halo or buko halo-halo is a combination of buko salad and ''

halo-halo ''Haluhalo'' is a popular cold dessert in the Philippines made with crushed ice, evaporated milk or coconut milk, and various ingredients including side dishes such as ube jam (ube halaya), sweetened kidney beans or garbanzo beans, coco ...

'' desserts, usually served directly on a coconut shell. It differs from halo-halo in the larger amount of coconut used.

Buko melon

A variant of buko salad with chunks of

cantaloupe The cantaloupe ( ) is a type of true melon (''Cucumis melo'') with sweet, aromatic, and usually orange flesh. Originally, ''cantaloupe'' refers to the true cantaloupe or European cantaloupe with non- to slightly netted and often ribbed rind. ...

s and various jelly desserts.

Buko pandan

A popular variant of buko salad whose secondary ingredient are green ''

'' (agar) cubes flavored with pandan leaf extracts.

Buko lychee

Buko

lychee Lychee ( , ; ''Litchi chinensis''; ) is a monotypic taxon and the sole member in the genus ''Litchi'' in the soapberry family, Sapindaceae. There are three distinct subspecies of lychee. The most common is the Indochinese lychee found in So ...

is a combination of buko and lychee, a variant of buko salad.

Lamaw

A popular snack in farming regions because it can be made easily with readily-available ingredients. Made with young coconut meat, milk and sugar (or

condensed milk Condensed milk is Milk#Cow, cow's milk from which water has been removed (roughly 60% of it). It is most often found with sugar added, in the form of sweetened condensed milk, to the extent that the terms "condensed milk" and "sweetened condensed m ...

), and saltines or

biscuit A biscuit is a flour-based baked food item. Biscuits are typically hard, flat, and unleavened. They are usually sweet and may be made with sugar, chocolate, icing, jam, ginger, or cinnamon. They can also be savoury, similar to crackers. ...

s (also graham crackers). It can also include orange-flavored softdrinks. Usually served on halved coconut shells.

Ube macapuno

A salad made with another common traditional pairing, that of

ube halaya ''Ube halaya'' or ''halayang ube'' (also spelled ''halea'', ''haleya''; ) is a Filipino cuisine, Filipino dessert made from boiled and mashed purple yam (''Dioscorea alata'', locally known as ''ube''). Ube halaya is the main base in ube/purple ...

(mashed

purple yam ''Dioscorea alata''also called ube (), ubi, purple yam, or greater yam, among many other namesis a species of yam (a tuber). The tubers are usually a vivid violet-purple to bright lavender (hence the common name), but some range from creamy ...

) and

External links

References

{{Filipino food Philippine desserts Coconut desserts Fruit salads