When mentioning specialties in Ben Tre, everyone will think of delicious coconut candy or juicy coconuts. Let’s learn about coconut wine, one of the famous specialties in the West that many people may not know about, a very strange but very famous specialty of Ben Tre that everyone should buy to try as a gift for family and friends once.
1. Origin and origin of coconut wine
The coconut tree has been associated with the people of Ben Tre for generations, it is closely associated with the spiritual life of the people here. Everything from the coconut is used, not only to make candies for children, or as gifts for visitors to this fertile land, but also to create other spiritual and material values.
The people of Ben Tre take advantage of all parts of the coconut tree to create unique values, from coconut shells, teapots, to candies, in addition to coconut wine, a typical wine here that is not inferior to any traditional wine of the highland ethnic groups such as Tao Meo wine or Na Hang corn wine.
Until now, people have not determined when coconut wine originated, but it is known that it is a quintessence that the ancestors of Ben Tre people have researched and explored to create a famous specialty with high commercial value, making every tourist who comes here have to bring it back as a gift for family, friends or colleagues.
2. How to make and taste of coconut wine
To create this famous coconut wine, the most important ingredient is the coconut. The coconut must be round, beautiful, thick with coconut meat, with a diameter of 16 to 18cm, weighing from 1.2 to 1.4 kg after peeling off the shell.
The rough outer layer is polished to be smooth to create a beautiful shine, to make a wine jar to hold the finished product. The sticky rice must have round, plump grains.
After cleaning the sticky rice, it will be mixed with a secret yeast specialized in fermenting sticky rice wine. Depending on the recipe, each person will choose yellow sticky rice or Phu Le sticky rice wine, or mix in more Northern or Southern medicinal herbs.
Finally, you use foil and plastic wrap to seal it and leave it for 15-20 days before using it. The finished product is ivory white and cloudy wine with floating coconut residue around it.
After being finished and left to ferment for the right amount of time, the coconut wine will have a characteristic aroma, the coconut meat will dissolve, creating a healthy wine to drink.
The taste is a bit spicy but a bit sweet and cool, when drunk, it feels passionate, gentle, and does not cause headaches like other wines on the market.
3. How to use and preserve coconut wine
How to use coconut wine
Coconut wine is easy to drink and good for human health. You can use it as a beverage during meals, suitable for both men and women, when using, insert one end of the tube into the hole in the coconut shell and you can enjoy it.
You can put the coconut on the charcoal to warm the wine or use it directly, drinking this wine helps stimulate digestion, lose weight, beautify the skin, help you eat well, prevent intestinal inflammation, … effectively.
How to preserve coconut wine
This type of wine is recommended to be stored in a cool, dry place, at a temperature below 25 degrees Celsius, avoid sunlight or too humid places. Coconut wine tastes best after 6 months from the date of brewing.
To avoid moldy and spoiled wine when brewing, you should use a sterile plastic bag to cover the outside of the coconut wine.
In addition, you can put coconut wine in the refrigerator to extend its shelf life.
