Coconut Candy is a Jamaican sweet — fresh grated coconut cooked with brown sugar and ginger until it crystallizes into firm, chewy, bite-sized chunks. Simpler than Coconut Drops (already in this database), it is a drier, more crystallized candy, the kind sold in small paper bags at Jamaican school gates.
Coconut Candy is one of the simplest and oldest Jamaican sweets. Unlike Coconut Drops (already in this database, which are softer and dropped), Coconut Candy is cooked longer until the sugar crystallizes, creating a firmer, drier candy that can be broken into chunks. The ingredients are the same — coconut, brown sugar, ginger — but the technique is different: the mixture is cooked until it reaches the hard-crack stage, then poured onto a surface and broken into pieces when cool. It is the candy of Jamaican childhood, sold in paper bags at school gates and corner shops.
A small, golden-brown, crystallized chunk of coconut candy — firm, chewy, with the crunch of sugar crystals and the shreds of coconut throughout. The ginger gives a warm tingle. It is sweeter and drier than Coconut Drops, more like a hard candy with coconut than a soft fudge.
The sugar is cooked to a higher temperature than Coconut Drops (hard-crack stage, about 150°C), which causes it to crystallize as it cools. The coconut is added at the soft-ball stage, then the mixture is cooked further until it reaches hard-crack. The candy is poured onto a greased surface and broken into pieces when cool.
Variations
Some add food coloring; some add different spices; some use white sugar; the firmness varies.
On the Palate
Where Coconut Candy sits in the Jamaican flavor cloud
Ingredients
Serves 8How it's made
8 steps · 20 min active + 10 min waiting
- 15 min
Grate 300 g fresh coconut.
- 23 min
In a heavy pot, combine 400 g brown sugar, 100 ml water, and 2 tsp grated ginger.
- 35 min
Boil to 115°C (soft-ball); add the coconut.
Watch outBoil the syrup to the soft-ball stage — a drop in cold water forms a soft pliable ball — before the coconut goes in; rush it and the candy won't set.
- 410 min
Continue cooking to 145-150°C (hard-crack), stirring constantly.
Watch outCook on to hard-crack, stirring nonstop so it doesn't scorch — a drop in cold water should snap brittle; that's when it will crystallize firm as it cools.
- 51 min
Pour onto a greased baking sheet or marble surface.
- 610 min
Cool completely.
- 71 min
Break into chunks.
- 81 min
Store in an airtight container.
