Coconut nectar
Cocos nucifera · Sweetener
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Coconut nectar, also sold as coconut blossom syrup, is a thin golden- to deep-amber liquid sweetener made from the sugary sap that flows from the cut flower buds of the coconut palm. Pourable and less viscous than honey, it has a warm, mildly caramel-and-butterscotch sweetness with a faint savoury edge, and is the liquid counterpart of granulated coconut sugar — the same sap, concentrated only to a syrup rather than boiled all the way to crystals.
Picking a good onedrag
Sealed, glossy, caramel-sweetFizzing, fuzzy, off
Open and in useEveryday bestWipe the thread and cap it tight after each pour. The working bottle: drinks, dressings, marinades and anywhere you would reach for thin honey.
Hold the bottle to the lightDeep toffee-brown and darker in the glass - a heavily reduced batch, not an old one
Smell it off a clean spoonDarker and molasses-earthy, almost savoury behind the sweetness - a dark batch
The lid, seal and neckOpen and in use: a sticky amber ring where the syrup has run down the glass
Read the labelThe same sap under another name - coconut blossom syrup, coconut sap or palm nectar