Coconut ice facts for kids
Coconut ice is a super sweet treat, a type of candy, that's popular in Britain. It's made from grated coconut (often dried, shredded coconut), sweet condensed milk, and sugar. These ingredients are mixed together and then shaped into a solid, soft candy. When you bite into it, it usually feels chewy and soft, sometimes a little bit grainy. While it's a British classic, you can also find coconut ice in places like South Africa, Australia, and New Zealand.
Often, you'll see coconut ice with two layers: one white and one pink! To make this, food coloring is added to half of the mixture to make it pink. Then, the pink mixture is carefully layered on top of or next to the plain white mixture. Once it sets, it's sliced into individual pieces, showing off its pretty two-tone look. Sometimes, modern recipes might even include ingredients like honey or gelatin to change the texture slightly.
The Story of Coconut Ice
For a long time, people in Britain would make coconut ice right at home. The earliest recipes used coconut and a boiled sugar syrup. These homemade versions didn't last very long and could sometimes get too dry or crumbly. They could even go bad!
It's a bit of a mystery why this sweet treat is called "ice." Some people think it might be because of its cool, often white, appearance.
In Australia, some old recipes for "cocoanut ice" (an older spelling) included an ingredient called copha. This is a special type of vegetable fat made from coconut oil, sometimes called "white cloud."
Over in America, there's a similar candy sold in stores called Neapolitan Coconut. These often have three layers, with an extra chocolate layer added to the pink and white ones.