Coconut toddy?

yaeyama · 08-24-2007, 11:56 AM

Well, this is not about wine so it's off-topic but, some islanders in the south Pacific brew coconut toddy. Apparently they pour coconut water (from a green, immature coconut) into a hollow bamboo section, and let it ferment in the sun for awhile. After a day you get a strong tasting juice, longer than that and apparently you get an extremely strong alcoholic toddy.

I can buy green drinking nuts (although, at around $4 each, if I needed more than a few of them it would become a rather expensive project), and I'm a bit of a coconut fan and would love to try something like this. Hell, I live in Japan so I can even easily get the bamboo.

(Mind you, home brewing is illegal here

)

Any thoughts on what the process would be? No tropical sunshine beating down here.

Sir Humpsalot · 08-24-2007, 01:08 PM

I have no direct advice. I would just do it the simplest, most basic way I could and experiment from there.

You could become the EdWort of Coconut Toddies!!!!

yaeyama · 08-24-2007, 01:30 PM

Heh.

How available are green coconuts in the States and Canada? Japan is close to south-east asia as well as islands in the south pacific, so they are fairly easy to find. When I lived in Canada, I believe I have only ever seen brown mature coconuts.

Mind you, perhaps those too would be usable.

yaeyama · 08-24-2007, 01:33 PM

Oh crap. This project is over before is starts.

From: http://www.fao.org/WAIRdocs/x5425e/x5425e08.htm

Toddy is made by binding and cutting a newly formed coconut flower bud in a special way. The top is cut off and shaved twice daily until the sap starts to drip out. A coconut shell or bottle catches the sap. Toddy is collected twice daily. Fresh, it is excellent for babies. It is drunk fresh, used as a flavouring, or saved for other uses. If allowed to ferment, an alcoholic beverage is made.

Too bad.

Coconut water is fairly sweet though. I'm sure SOMETHING could be made from it.

yaeyama · 08-24-2007, 01:38 PM

From http://pca.da.gov.ph/tol.html

Infloresence

Out of the bud of the coconut tree's infloresence is a juice called coconut toddy or tuba. The fermented juice is the common alcoholic drink in the coconut region. The fermented tuba would be a good drink even to those who enjoy the finer things. The principal uses of the toddy are: as fresh beverage; for producing alcoholic beverages; for producing vinegar; for making sugar; and as a source of yeast for making bread.

Coconut toddy, after being left for five days then distilled, produces an alcoholic spirit known locally as lambanog which is more or less 98% proof. In its taste, sweet toddy is a liquid containing essentially 12 to 18% sugar (sucrose).

98% proof!

flowerysong · 08-24-2007, 02:32 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by yaeyama

Coconut toddy, after being left for five days then distilled, produces an alcoholic spirit known locally as lambanog which is more or less 98% proof.

Proof is not a percentage. I'm assuming they actually meant 98 proof since a stable mixture of 98% alcohol is impossible due to ethanol's hygroscopic properties. So, 49% ABV, fairly standard for a distilled beverage.

Most references that I found on the web state that 80-90 proof is the normal range for this to be drunk at, though I did find one account of a tourist's encounter with 170 proof lambanog.