The coconut fruit that comes from the coconut palm (Cocos nucifera) is one of my favorite fruits, besides being a very complete food I enjoy preparing for my family and friends a delicious sweet or preserve that I learned to make in a small eastern town called Caripito, Monagas state of my beloved Venezuela.

I wanted to bring this delicious delicacy taking advantage of the days off for the celebration of the carnival festivities and since I am not allowed to go out because of the COVID19 pandemic and my age, I am looking for something to distract me, so...

Oiza And Her Coconut Preserve

Let's start at the beginning of the matter....

Ingredients: .

3 dried coconuts

1 kg of sugar

6 spoonfuls of powdered milk

The step by step:
1) The first thing is to remove the coconut cover, which is very hard, I help myself by hitting it with a hammer. Once the almond is extracted, proceed to remove the brown coating that surrounds it.

2) The next step is to proceed to grate the coconut (almond), I do it by the intermediate space, which gives as thin strips, when you grate, are leaving small pieces that later I will tell you what I do with them.

3) Before breaking the coconut, you must remove the little bit of water it contains and reserve it, since we are going to use it to hydrate the candy and blend the coconut pieces that you cannot grate because of their size.

4) You take the coconut to the fire, add the sugar and the liquefied product, that is to say the water with the coconut pieces:

5) And now all that is left is to stir with a wooden paddle until the product comes off the pot. This process takes approximately one (1) hour.

6) When it is ready to be cooked, it is emptied into a tray and when it has reached room temperature, it is taken to the refrigerator.

Here I show you my first ration of the sweet or preserve, I am presenting it in a blue plate so that there is contrast of colors between the sweet and the bottom of the plate.

Of course, I am aware of the situation in my country and the lack of gas for cooking, but I make a sacrifice in order to give myself a treat for the whole family. Until this week we were 8 months without gas and I had to cook with firewood or with an external stove, thank you and I have a patio!

Let's talk about direct cost, that is, only contemplating the ingredients:

3 coconuts 1,23$ 1,23

1 kg sugar 0,83$ 0,83

Milk 0,85$ 0,85

Cost in ingredients .................................................. 2,91$
I can only do it with the help of my son, because my income as a pensioner is 0,82$ per month...Believe it or not!

I hope you like the recipe and that you can someday enjoy this delicious candy.

Original photo and writing support by @oizaguirres for read.cash