Coconut

Also called Coconut palm · CocoanutCocos nucifera · Arecaceae family

Taste coconut through its different forms: young flesh, mature meat and the rich milk used in rice and custard.

Checked Oct 19CoconutiHeartFruitBox · 1 Sprouted Coconut$49.99

37varieties
11growing areas
4countries
55names

Get to know it

A young coconut is a drink and a spoonable snack in one: sweet water inside a shell lined with jelly-soft flesh. Left longer on the palm, it develops firm white meat. Grate that meat and squeeze it, and you have coconut milk.

What it is

Coconut is the fruit of Cocos nucifera, a palm. A thick, stringy husk surrounds a brown, hairy shell, whose end has three soft spots called eyes. A young coconut with its husk removed measures about 10 cm (4 in) across.

Young drinking coconuts are picked six to nine months after flowering. At 11–13 months, the flesh is hard and white, with less liquid inside. Coconut water is the liquid already in the fruit; coconut milk is squeezed from the grated flesh.

Where it comes from

Coconuts have two broad family lines, one associated with the Pacific and another with the Indian and Atlantic oceans. People carried them on sea voyages as food and drinking water. Later, Europeans took coconuts from India to the Atlantic coasts of Africa and South America and to the Caribbean.

India’s 2024/25 coconut crop totals about 14 million tonnes. Kerala has the country’s largest area of coconut palms, while Tamil Nadu produces the most coconuts.

How it's eaten where it grows

In Kerala, puttu combines rice flour and grated coconut in a steamed dish, often eaten with kadala curry, a chickpea curry. In Sri Lanka, pol sambol mixes coconut with chilli and onion alongside string hoppers, little steamed nests of rice-flour strands.

Coconut milk gives Sri Lankan watalappan its rich base. Eggs, kithul jaggery and spices turn it into a sweet dessert, especially popular among the island’s Muslim community.

How it's grown

Coconut palms grow in tropical warmth, full sun and sandy soil. Tall palms can reach 24–30 m (80–100 ft), with flowers beginning after four to six years.

Harvesters cut fruit with a saw on a long pole or climb the palm. A climber lowers bunches of young coconuts on a rope to a second worker on the ground, keeping the tender nuts from falling hard.

When and where you'll find it

Young and mature coconuts usually reach markets throughout the year from tropical growing countries. In Southeast Asia and now in the US, a young coconut is often sold with most of its husk trimmed away, leaving a rounded body with a flat base and pointed top. Mature coconuts also travel with the bulky husk removed, exposing the brown shell.

In Southeast Asian markets and roadside stalls, young flesh and its water also come in small bags kept on ice.

Sources · 6

Get it near Detroit

What it tastes like

As soft as a banana, as mild as a pear≈

Not sweetlemonapplebananaSweet

MildapplelemonSour

SoftpearappleCrisp

More about the taste

Young coconut has translucent, jelly-like flesh and abundant liquid. As the fruit matures, its white flesh becomes firmer and thicker while the amount and eating quality of the liquid change.

Young coconuts have translucent, jelly-like flesh; mature coconuts have firmer white flesh. The internal liquid also changes in amount and character as the fruit develops.

Choose, ripen, store, eat

1ChooseNo cracks
Look for
No cracks
No wet or moldy eyes
Ignore
Sloshing sound
Decide whether you want tender young flesh or firm mature meat. For husked whole nuts, avoid cracks and wet or moldy eyes; a sloshing sound only indicates liquid inside, not a complete freshness test.
2RipenDoesn’t ripen after picking
Doesn’t ripen after picking
Choose the maturity stage for your dish at purchase — a young coconut won't become a mature cooking coconut afterward.
3StoreStorage depends on whether the nut is young, mature, husked, trimmed or already opened — follow the instructions for the exact form you buy
Storage depends on whether the nut is young, mature, husked, trimmed or already opened — follow the instructions for the exact form you buy.
4EatCoconut water, Flesh
Eat
Coconut waterFlesh
The edible interior includes coconut water and flesh. Coconut milk, made from the flesh, is a separate cooking ingredient from plain coconut water.

Detroit, Michigan

When it’s good here

Grown here

Ships from other states

Orderable$49.99Checked Oct 19Sprouted Coconut (Coconut Heart) · 1 Sprouted Coconut · iHeartFruitBox$49.99

11 growing areas, 4 countries

Bahia
Balochistan
Espírito Santo
Lambayeque
Northern Territory +1
Pará
Pernambuco
Piura
Sindh
You

Grows hereIn season nowOther monthsYou

4 of 4 areas · October

Growing areas by country

Brazil5
Australia2
Peru2
Pakistan2

Makapuno is a coconut type whose flesh stays soft and jelly-like even at maturity, valued rather than considered spoiled. It's known by related names in Indonesia, India and Thailand.
Asian coconut food traditions

37 varieties

See all 37 varieties

55 names in 26 languages

Cook it

Recipes 5

11 coconut festivals

San Pablo Coconut FestivalJanMaySan Pablo, Laguna, PhilippinesJanMay

Coco FestFebSavannah (Pedro St. James), Grand Cayman, Cayman Islands · Organiser ↗Feb

Feria del Coco ChetumalMarChetumal, Quintana Roo, MexicoMar

Pelican Point Coconut FestivalMar–AprPelican Point (East End), Grand Bahama, BahamasMar–Apr

Island Coconut FestivalMayOctSri Vijaya Puram (Port Blair), Andaman and Nicobar Islands, IndiaMayOct

Lubi-Lubi FestivalMayGingoog, Misamis Oriental, Philippines · Organiser ↗May

Festivals this month →

Strange but true

If you like Coconut

Tastes alike

Same plant family

Sources

Coconut · Fruitopia · checked Sep 21, 2026