Why I Love Coconut Nectar

Coconut nectar is a delicious sweet delight. It is amazing drizzled on waffles and pancakes, stirred into porridge, or used in a recipes as an alternative to sugar, maple syrup or treacle. But what is it and why do I lovet it so much?

Coconut nectar is made with minimal processing; what comes out of the bottle is what it’s like when it comes from the farmer!

Coconut nectar is made by collecting the sap from the coconut tree. The sap is found right at the top of the tree, in the blossoms which go on to become the fruit (what you know of as the coconut).

Wijesinghe and his community have harvested coconut nectar for as many generations as they can remember! They responsibly harvest every 12 hours from the coconut blossoms. They then use a broad pan to heat the nectar to boiling point. As the moisture evaporates the concentrated nectar remains. The naturally occurring sugars caramelise it, and you’re left with the sweet sticky coconut nectar which is in our bottles.

Is coconut syrup the same thing as coconut nectar?

Coconut nectar is less processed than coconut syrup. All that happens to the nectar is boiling it down to a more viscous consistency.

To make coconut syrup, companies take coconut sugar and add water, thickeners and stabilisers to it, turning it back into a syrupy consistency.

So they are similar, but not the same.

I would always chose coconut nectar. It is a more pure and natural form of sweetener, comparable to honey or maple syrup.

So is coconut nectar better than honey and maple syrup?

Yes & No!

Honey in its most natural and raw form, is a great natural sweetener with loads of benefits. But there is a big difference between small scale locally produced raw honey and the honey that is easily found in supermarkets.. Most honey is farmed in enormous quantities and is pasteurised, a process that destroys all the beneficial stuff it contains, such as minerals, enzymes and the pollen it was made from. And of course farming bees makes it not vegan friendly.

Maple syrup is made using the sap of the maple tree, in a very similar way to coconut nectar and also has many benefits. It does have a very distinct, strong taste. While delicious, you may not always want such a strong flavour! In that case coconut nectar is a great, more neutral, alternative.

✔️ Coconut nectar doesn’t have an overbearing flavour.

✔️ Coconut nectar is minimally processed which ensures that it retains a lot of the natural goodness it came from the tree with.

✔️ Coconut nectar has a low glycaemic index rating. You can find out about glycaemic index ratings here.

✔️ Coconut nectar is an ethical option

When you choose coconut nectar from Three By One you are choosing a sustainable sweet option. We source all of our nectar from Wijesinghe and his community in Sri Lanka. Individual farmers are fairly paid and supported through benefits such as healthcare, education and assistance programmes. No irrigation is needed. No pesticides or fertilisers are used, meaning it’s 100% organic. The coconut tree helps offer stability to topsoil and uses minimal land compared to other crops. And we of course also use the fruit of the tree in our other products!

So this is why I love coconut nectar!

Let me know in the comments how you like to use it.