Coconut sugar (also known as coco sugar, coconut palm sugar, coco sap sugar or coconut blossom sugar) is a

palm sugar Palm sugar is a sweetener derived from any variety of palm tree. Palm sugar may be qualified by the type of palm, as in coconut palm sugar. While sugars from different palms may have slightly different compositions, all are processed simila ...

produced from the sap of the flower bud stem of the

coconut palm 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, ...

. Other types of palm sugar are made from the kithul palm (''

Caryota urens ''Caryota urens'' is a species of flowering plant in the palm family, native to Sri Lanka, India, Myanmar and Malaysia (perhaps elsewhere in Indo-Malayan region), where they grow in fields and rainforest clearings, it is regarded as introduced ...

''),

Palmyra palm ''Borassus'' (palmyra palm) is a genus of five species of fan palms, native to tropical regions of Africa, Asia, and Papua New Guinea. Description These massive palms can grow up to high and have robust trunks with distinct leaf scars; in so ...

, the

date palm ''Phoenix dactylifera'', commonly known as the date palm, is a flowering-plant species in the palm family Arecaceae, cultivated for its edible sweet #Fruits, fruit called dates. The species is widely cultivated across North Africa, northern A ...

, the sugar date palm, the

sago palm Sago palm is a common name for several plants which are used to produce a starchy food known as sago. Sago palms may be "true palms" in the family Arecaceae The Arecaceae () is a family (biology), family of perennial plant, perennial, flowerin ...

or the

sugar palm Sugar palm is a common name for several species of palms used to produce sugar. :Species used include: *''Arenga pinnata'' (syn. ''A. saccharifera'') *''Borassus flabellifer'' *'' Caryota'' :*'' Caryota urens'' *''Cocos nucifera'' See also * Tod ...

. Used as a sweetener in many countries, coconut sugar has no significant nutritional or health benefits over other sweeteners.

Manufacture

Coconut sugar comes in crystal or granule form, block or liquid. Producing coconut sugar is a two-step process. It starts with harvesting or "tapping"

nectar Nectar is a viscous, sugar-rich liquid produced by Plant, plants in glands called nectaries, either within the flowers with which it attracts pollination, pollinating animals, or by extrafloral nectaries, which provide a nutrient source to an ...

from the flower bud stem of a coconut tree. Farmers make a cut on the spadix and the sap starts to flow from the cut into bamboo containers. The sap collected is then transferred into large woks and placed over moderate heat to evaporate the moisture content of the sap. The sap is translucent and is about 80% water. At this point it is known as coconut

neera Neera, also called palm nectar, is a sap extracted from the inflorescence of various species of toddy palms and used as a drink. Neera extraction is generally performed before sunrise. It is sweet, translucent in colour. It is susceptible to ...

or (Indonesia), tinamís (Philippines), coconut toddy (Sri Lanka), (Thailand), or lagbi (North Africa). As the water evaporates, it starts to transform into a thick sap syrup. From this form, it may or may not be further reduced to crystal, block or soft paste form. The brown colour which develops as the sap is reduced is mostly due to

caramelization Caramelization (or caramelisation) is a process of browning of sugar used extensively in cooking for the resulting butter-like flavor and brown color. The brown colors are produced by three groups of polymers: (C24H36O18), (C36H50O25), and ...

Culinary use

Coconut sugar is widely used in Sri Lanka as an unrefined syrup or as

jaggery Jaggery is a List of unrefined sweeteners, traditional non-centrifugal cane sugar consumed in the Indian subcontinent, Southeast Asia, North America, Central America, Brazil and Africa. It is a concentrated product of Sugarcane juice, cane jui ...

, referred to as ''pol hakuru'' (පොල් හකුරු), though the jaggery made from the Kithul palm is preferred. In

Indonesian cuisine Indonesian cuisine is a collection of various regional culinary traditions by various ethnic groups that formed in the archipelagic nation of Indonesia. There are a wide variety of recipes and cuisines in part because Indonesia is composed ...

coconut sugar is called ''gula jawa'' (Javanese sugar) or ''gula merah'' (red sugar), while ''gula aren'' refers to palm sugar specifically made from aren palm. Some Indonesian foodstuffs are made with coconut sugar, including

kecap manis Sweet soy sauce (; ) is a sweetened aromatic soy sauce, originating in Indonesia, which has a darker color, a viscous syrupy consistency, and a molasses-like flavor due to the generous addition of palm sugar or jaggery. ''Kecap manis'' is widely ...

(a sweet

soya sauce Soy sauce (sometimes called soya sauce in British English) is a liquid condiment of Chinese origin, traditionally made from a fermented paste of soybeans, roasted grain, brine, and ''Aspergillus oryzae'' or '' Aspergillus sojae'' molds. It is r ...

) and

dendeng ''Dendeng'' is thinly sliced dried meat in Minangkabau cuisine. It is preserved through a mixture of sugar and spices and dried via a frying process. It is similar to jerky. ''Dendeng'' is traditionally produced by using some spices and sugar a ...

(a meat preparation). ''Gula melaka'' is a

Southeast Asia Southeast Asia is the geographical United Nations geoscheme for Asia#South-eastern Asia, southeastern region of Asia, consisting of the regions that are situated south of China, east of the Indian subcontinent, and northwest of the Mainland Au ...

n name for palm sugar or "malacca sugar", probably named for its origin in the state of

Malacca Malacca (), officially the Historic State of Malacca (), is a States and federal territories of Malaysia, state in Malaysia located in the Peninsular Malaysia#Other features, southern region of the Malay Peninsula, facing the Strait of Malacca ...

Malaysia Malaysia is a country in Southeast Asia. Featuring the Tanjung Piai, southernmost point of continental Eurasia, it is a federation, federal constitutional monarchy consisting of States and federal territories of Malaysia, 13 states and thre ...

. It is usually derived from coconut palms, but sometimes from other palms. It is used in

savory Savory or Savoury may refer to: Common usage * Herbs of the genus ''Satureja'', particularly: ** Summer savory (''Satureja hortensis''), an annual herb, used to flavor food ** Winter savory (''Satureja montana''), a perennial herb, also used to ...

dishes, but mainly in local

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, ...

s and cakes of the Southeast Asian region. File:Ivinsf.JPG, A bowl of gula melaka

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 ...

File:Steamed Goan rice and jaggery cakes.jpg, ''Patoleo'', a Goan Catholic sweet dish prepared with coconut sugar File:Onde-onde.jpg,

Klepon ''Klepon'' () or ''kelepon'' or ''kalalapun'', also known outside Java as ''onde-onde'' and ''buah melaka'', is a sweet rice cake ball filled with molten palm sugar and coated in grated coconut. Of Javanese origin, the green-coloured glutinous ...

; the green flecks within the rice derive from

glutinous rice flour Domestication syndrome refers to two sets of phenotypic traits that are common to either domesticated plants or domestication of animals, domesticated animals. Domesticated animals tend to be smaller and less aggressive than their wild counterp ...

mixed with

sweet potato The sweet potato or sweetpotato (''Ipomoea batatas'') is a dicotyledonous plant in the morning glory family, Convolvulaceae. Its sizeable, starchy, sweet-tasting tuberous roots are used as a root vegetable, which is a staple food in parts of ...

and flavored with pandan. File:Ondeh ondeh kueh.jpg, Klepon, with palm sugar filling.

Taste and flavor

Coconut sugar is subtly sweet almost like

brown sugar Brown sugar is a sucrose sugar product with a distinctive brown color due to the presence of molasses. It is either an unrefined or partially refined soft sugar consisting of sugar crystals with some residual molasses content or produced by t ...

but with a slight hint of caramel. The flavor and sweetness is usually similar to

table sugar White sugar, also called table sugar, granulated sugar, or regular sugar, is a commonly used type of sugar, made either of beet sugar or cane sugar, which has undergone a refining process. It is nearly pure sucrose. Description The refining ...

or brown sugar. However, since coconut sugar is not highly processed, the color, sweetness and flavor can vary depending on the coconut species used, season when it was harvested, where it was harvested and/or the way the "sap" or "toddy" was reduced.

Nutrition and health claims

Although its use as a sweetener has become more common in developed countries, there is no scientific evidence that coconut sugar is more nutritious or healthier than any other sweetener. The

nutritive value Nutritional value or nutritive value as part of food quality is the measure of a well-balanced ratio of the essential nutrients carbohydrates, fat, protein, minerals, and vitamins in items of food or diet concerning the nutrient requirements of ...

is similar to the

empty calorie In human nutrition, empty calories are those calories found in foods and beverages (including alcohol) composed primarily or solely of calorie-rich macronutrients such as sugars and fats, but little or no micronutrients, fibre, or protein. Foods ...

s found in

. The principal

carbohydrate A carbohydrate () is a biomolecule composed of carbon (C), hydrogen (H), and oxygen (O) atoms. The typical hydrogen-to-oxygen atomic ratio is 2:1, analogous to that of water, and is represented by the empirical formula (where ''m'' and ''n'' ...

s of coconut sugar are

sucrose Sucrose, a disaccharide, is a sugar composed of glucose and fructose subunits. It is produced naturally in plants and is the main constituent of white sugar. It has the molecular formula . For human consumption, sucrose is extracted and refined ...

(70–79%),

glucose Glucose is a sugar with the Chemical formula#Molecular formula, molecular formula , which is often abbreviated as Glc. It is overall the most abundant monosaccharide, a subcategory of carbohydrates. It is mainly made by plants and most algae d ...

, and

fructose Fructose (), or fruit sugar, is a Ketose, ketonic monosaccharide, simple sugar found in many plants, where it is often bonded to glucose to form the disaccharide sucrose. It is one of the three dietary monosaccharides, along with glucose and gal ...

(3–9% each). Coconut sugar also contains

mannose Mannose is a sugar with the formula , which sometimes is abbreviated Man. It is one of the monomers of the aldohexose series of carbohydrates. It is a C-2 epimer of glucose. Mannose is important in human metabolism, especially in the glycosylatio ...

inositol In biochemistry, medicine, and related sciences, inositol generally refers to ''myo''-inositol (formerly ''meso''-inositol), the most important stereoisomer of the chemical compound cyclohexane-1,2,3,4,5,6-hexol. Its elemental formula, formula is ...

and

amino acids Amino acids are organic compounds that contain both amino and carboxylic acid functional groups. Although over 500 amino acids exist in nature, by far the most important are the Proteinogenic amino acid, 22 α-amino acids incorporated into p ...

. Presumably due to the heat during cooking, it further contains pyroglutamate in comparatively high concentrations. A

glycemic index The glycemic (glycaemic) index (GI; ) is a number from 0 to 100 assigned to a food, with pure glucose arbitrarily given the value of 100, which represents the relative rise in the blood glucose level two hours after consuming that food. The GI of ...

(GI) of 35 for coconut sugar was reported by the

Philippine Coconut Authority The Philippine Coconut Authority (PCA or PHILCOA; ) is an agency of the Philippine government under the Department of Agriculture (Philippines), Department of Agriculture (from 2014 to 2018, under the Office of the President of the Philippines a ...

, and by that measure it is classified as a low glycemic index food. However, the

University of Sydney The University of Sydney (USYD) is a public university, public research university in Sydney, Australia. Founded in 1850, it is the oldest university in both Australia and Oceania. One of Australia's six sandstone universities, it was one of the ...

(

Australia Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country comprising mainland Australia, the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania and list of islands of Australia, numerous smaller isl ...

) Glycemic Index Research Service measured the GI of coconut sugar to be 54, and considers any GI over 55 to be high.

References

External links

* {{Sugar Types of sugar Foods containing coconut