Top 8 Buko Treats in the Philippines

Filipino Food - Fruit

Buko is young coconut. Its flesh is soft, thin and silky -- you can easily scrape it off with a spoon. To compare, the flesh of a mature coconut is niyog, which is thick and hard and needs to be grated off the shell.

The Top 8 Buko Treats for Filipinos:

1. buko pie  = coconut pie
- associated with Laguna province
- it's simply a pastry pie filled with young coconut meat

2. buko juice = young coconut water
- best when drunk straight out of the coconut whose top has just been cut off  
- scrape  the soft coconut meat out with a spoon

3. pansit buko /  pancit buko
- noodle dish where the noodles are coconut strips instead of flour dough

4. sweet buko salad
- soft coconut flesh made with condensed milk and cream
- combined with kaong, nata de coco and canned fruit cocktail


5. buko pandan
- a fruit salad that's a mix of young coconut flesh and green gulaman flavored with pandanus leaves; made with cream, sugar and coconut milk


6. buko maruya
a maruya is traditionally a banana fritter, but young coconut may be substituted for the banana ingredient


7. buko samalamig
- a street drink that's like a light shake with sago pearls


8. ice buko
- a popsicle made from young coconut juice, soft coconut flesh and milk; crowned with brown mung beans or red beans