Virgin coconut oil is in a word amazing. It is really one of the most amazing foods in the world. It has been known to reduce the risk of many major diseases. It prevents the flu in the winter months and boosts immunity. It enhances metabolism. It contains a healthy fat that fights heart disease and hardening of the arteries and so much more. It has so many properties health-wise it would be hard to list them in an article focused on just recipes with the oil.
Now when we think of coconuts, we think of delicious foods and desserts. But, to be honest; I find virgin coconut oil pretty darn disgusting. I mean it’s hard to describe. It’s like…well number 1…you’re eating oil. And I think that would qualify as numbers 1-7. Then number 8 is that it has a taste of coconut to it that somehow manages to not be good.
I mean it’s funny. Virgin coconut oil is one of those things that you should eat about 3-4 tablespoons of everyday; but it’s hard to literally choke down. Now many recipes with virgin coconut oil contain recipes where you bake the oil in muffins and whatnot. But, I have not been able to find out if this reduces the effectiveness of the health properties in the oil. I would think that heating the oil to a certain degree would alter the oil’s healthful properties in some way. But, I could be wrong. So, until I found out for a fact; I decided to just find good ways to eat the oil raw or as raw as possible and share them with you.
Interestingly enough, one of the grossest properties of virgin coconut oil can be harnessed into something delicious. Now yes virgin coconut oil is an oil; but guess what? At room temperature it hardens into a state just hard enough to resemble lard. Now sometimes I will quickly gulp down the oil in a glass of room temperature orange juice just before it hardens if I’m in a hurry but I don’t recommend this method if you can’t drink it very fast because/ the oil will turn into a lard-like lump in your juice as it cools. blah.
But, if you drizzle the melted oil over your favorite ice cream or soy ice cream; this hardening kind of turns into a kind of shell like a chocolate shell or something like that. And it actually just tastes like a yummy coconut shell like it should. Your 3-4 tablespoons can be easily consumed this way. Another good way to eat it is in a hot beverage. You do have to get over the fact that you’re drinking oil though in a beverage like coffee, hot tea or apple cider. But it’s still okay this way. One of the best ways to get over the fact that it is an oil that you’re drinking in a beverage is to drink it with hot chocolate or hot carob or however you choose to have that sort of drink. The drink is already rich and dessert-like so the oiliness of the virgin coconut oil kind of blends a little better.
Now sometimes I will use the oil to lightly saute vegetables with Asian seasonings leaning toward a sweeter palette. I will add some juice to it and maybe a little flour and light soy sauce to make it into a sauce; making sure to consume it all the sauce. Now I don’t do this as often as the other methods because I’m just not sure if this method preserves all the health benefits the oil offers because of the heating. This is a delicious way to prepare fresh string beans, carrots, onions, water chestnuts or other sort of vegetable.
To my surprise though virgin coconut oil can be quite delicious when you use these methods and you will find that after you get used to it; you will get very used to it. And your body does seem to look forward to it on a regular basis. Everyday consumption might be a little expensive though for the average person. For me I take about 3-4 tablespoons of it like 3-4 times a week. A good sized jar in most health food stores will run me about $10 and last for about a month or maybe a bit less.
