Coconut sugar
Coconut sugar (also known as coco sugar, coconut palm sugar, coco sap sugar or coconut blossom sugar) is a palm sugar produced from the sap of the flower bud stem of the coconut palm. Other types of palm sugar are made from the kithul palm (Caryota urens), Palmyra palm, the date palm, the sugar date palm, the sago palm or the sugar palm. 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" 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 or (Indonesia), and as coconut toddy (Sri Lanka), (Thailand), or lagbi (North Africa). As the water evaporates, it starts to transform into a thick sap syrup.