My On-Again, Off-Again, On-Again Love Affair with Coconut
Coconut banana macadamia nut — a taste of Hawaii in your own home.
As a teen, I fell for coconut.
Hard.
I’d bake sticky coconut macaroons, shower vanilla frosted cakes liberally with the snowy shards, and stir in as much shredded coconut as humanly possible into the batter for my favorite Morning Glory muffins.
But in my 20s, all of that stopped. I turned my back on coconut.
Maybe it was my young adult self trying to assert a more grown-up palate. Or the reaction to way too many Mound’s bars or supermarket German chocolate cakes early on, both of which had the nasty habit of rendering coconut nearly sickly sweet.
In any event, coconut and I parted ways. For a long, long time. I went out of my way to avoid the stuff, picking around the lone coconut bonbon in the See’s candy box or turning up my nose at any dessert that dared include it.
But a few years ago, ever so slowly, that flame for coconut was rekindled.
Koloa Coconut Rum mini bottles — a souvenir from my recent trip to Kauai.
Maybe it started when I succumbed to a sublime wedge of coconut cake at the cute-as-a-button Hominy Grill in Charleston. Because if you’re in Charleston, how can you not eat coconut cake?
Or all my recent trips to Hawaii, where coconut something or another can be found on every menu around.