Desiccated Coconut - Medium Shred, Unsweetened

This is desiccated coconut: the white flesh of the coconut, grated and dried, in a medium shred. In Egypt it is goz hind mabshour, as spice shops and nut roasteries sell it. It is unsweetened, with nothing added: no added sugar and no preservative. We buy it in bulk and pack it ourselves into resealable pouches of 250 g, 500 g and 1 kg. Medium is the everyday grade: small, even crumbs, between the fine, almost powdery grade and the coarse one.

The taste is mild and lightly sweet, from the coconut itself rather than from added sugar, with the clean smell of fresh coconut, which comes out more when it is toasted. The medium shred is fine enough to mix into a batter or a filling and coarse enough to show on top of a cake and keep a little bite.

In Egypt coconut belongs to the home baker's shelf and to Ramadan. It goes into basbousa and over its top, over konafa and muhallabia, and into the nut filling of qatayef, the small folded pancakes of Ramadan. Date balls are rolled in it, and in the weeks before Ramadan it is sold as part of yamish, with nuts, raisins, dried apricots and dates.

For basbousa, stir a handful into the semolina batter or scatter it over the top before it goes into the oven. For coconut macaroons, mix it with egg white and sugar, shape small mounds and bake until the edges turn golden. Sprinkle it over konafa, muhallabia, rice pudding or the top of a cake, or roll date balls in it. To toast it, stir it in a dry pan over low heat for two or three minutes and take it off as soon as it turns pale gold: it browns fast once it starts. Toasted, it also goes into savoury cooking, stirred into a curry or a pot of rice at the end. If a recipe calls for sweetened coconut, add a little more sugar to the recipe instead.

Coconut is not one of the tree nuts that food labels in the EU must declare, but coconut allergy does exist: if you have ever reacted to coconut, do not eat it. We cannot confirm that it was processed or packed away from nuts, peanuts or sesame, so if you have a food allergy, ask us before you order.

Two things this page does not claim. We have not been able to confirm where this coconut was grown, so no country is named here. Coconut is also widely sold with long lists of claimed effects, and this listing repeats none of them. It is sold as food, and nothing here is a health claim or medical advice.

Dried coconut keeps its fresh taste for a limited time: it slowly goes stale, faster in heat and light, and it takes up damp and kitchen smells when the pouch is left open. Keep the pouch pressed shut, cool and dry, away from spices and other foods with a smell of their own, and in a hot kitchen keep it in the fridge. Count on about three months of best taste from delivery while the pouch stays sealed, and about one month once it is open. If it ever smells sour or soapy instead of fresh, turns yellow or clumps with damp, it has gone off and is best thrown away.