Sea coconut slices
Dried slices of African and Thai fan-palm fruits sold as 'sea coconut'; the genuine Seychelles coco de mer is a different, protected plant almost never in the trade. The thin ivory slices turn translucent with boiling and give clearing soups a light coconut-water sweetness.
TCM properties
Nature · cooling Flavour · sweet Meridians · lung
Traditional food therapy
In Cantonese food therapy it is simmered with apple, pear or figs in clearing, moistening pots against seasonal dryness, traditionally credited with moistening the lungs and easing heat-type cough and phlegm.
Cautions: read first
- Take care with a cold cough. It suits a hot or dry cough only, and with a cold cough it makes things worse.
- Market stock is a mixed bag, since true Seychelles sea coconut is extremely rare, so buy from a dried-goods shop with a good name
- Keep the amount modest if your spleen and stomach run cold
Preparation
Soak and rinse the dried slices. Fresh 海底椰 is simply sliced.
Origin
Thailand and the palm-growing areas of Africa, which is where the sliced product on the shelf comes from. A specialist item in Australia, occasionally at online Asian grocers
Availability in Australia
Easy to find
