Berry sorbet with sea coconut

The weather has been really hot and humid with sporadic outburst of rain. Needed some refreshing drink to cool down. Found some fresh sea coconut also known as Coco de Mer at the local market. Just to make it clear, sea coconut does not originate from the sea. It has a sweet fermented flavour almost like light coconut toddy and a crunchy jelly kind of texture. It has to be paired with some other fruits with a stronger flavour and taste. On its own it is pretty tasteless.

In some Asian countries, it is boiled with dried longan, winter melon, red dates and is believed to help reduce cough. It can also be enjoyed as a refreshing drink on a hot day. Here’s the recipe,

Ingredients (serves 6)

6 peeled sea coconuts (looks like small white hearts)
4 fresh strawberries
6 mulberries (fresh or frozen in ice cubes)
generous amount of ice cubes
gula melaka (palm sugar)

Method

1. First, melt the palm sugar in a little water over low heat. Stirring and making sure it doesn’t burn. Sugar burns easily. Add a tsp of butter and stir until the sugar is smooth. This can be made a day earlier.
2. Slice the sea coconut.
3. Put the fresh strawberries, mulberries and ice cubes into a ice blender and blend.
4. Scoop out the blended ice and berries sorbet into the serving glasses and put in some sliced sea coconut.
5. Drizzle a generous amount of liquid palm sugar over the sorbet.