Desiccated coconut is a staple in cooking worldwide, a dry, white powder packed full of rich flavour and essential minerals and with a long shelf-life. Created by finely shredding and then carefully drying fresh coconut meat over many hours, not only is desiccated coconut perfect for adding texture and taste to sweet dishes such as breads, cookies, and cakes, but also for adding creaminess to savoury dishes like curries and stir-fries, and nutritiousness to healthy foods such as granola bars and salads (it’s full of zinc, iron, and medium chain-triglycerides to give you quick boosts of energy). Available in different grades including extra-fine, fine, medium, and flakes, desiccated coconut’s cheffing possibilities are endless!
Over 250,000 metric tonnes of desiccated coconut is exported to the global market every year, with the Philippines and Indonesia dominating production thanks to their huge coconut plantations (together they produce over 70% of the world’s supply). So how did desiccated coconut become such a big seller? An important part of the story is a Englishman named Henry Vavasseur who in the 1800s travelled to Sri Lanka (another major coconut growing country) and pioneered the process of using tea drying ovens to remove the moisture from coconut meat which makes desiccated coconut. In the early 1900s he moved his factory to the Philippines, and so began the origins of Axelum Resources Corp, today one of the Philippines’ leading coconut manufacturers and exporters.
Thanks to Henry Vavasseur, Axelum boasts over 150 years of experience in the coconut industry. Located on the Philippines’ second largest island, Mindanao (which produces its own variety of coconut), Axelum strives for quality, using state-of-the-art machinery with the finest raw materials. In 1990 the business expanded into the USA, acquiring Red V Foods Corp., then in 2003 they also expanded into Australia, setting up Fiesta Ingredients Australia. Nowadays, thanks to increasing global demand, Axelum also operates in Spain, and exports to over 25 world markets in total, including Colombia and Canada, Turkey and Thailand, and Mexico and Malaysia! Demonstrating just how far they’ve come, in 2019 Axelum debuted on the Philippine Stock Exchange as the nation’s only pure coconut company.
So that’s the story of desiccated coconut! What dish are you going to use it in next?
