I have been trying to reduce fat, specifically the bad fats, in my diet lately, and try to find ways to increase fiber without eating things that taste like cardboard, so when I had a chance to try coconut manna, I jumped at it. The packaging says it is a healthy substitute for butter, and can be used as a spread. My mouth watered at the idea of a bit of this, some nutella, and a banana wrapped up in a whole grain wrap. The potential here was exciting for someone who loves coconut like I do.The packaging indicated that the oil separates from the coconut, and you must put the container in hot water for five to ten minutes for everything to soften, so that you can stir it all up to a nice smooth consistency. Sound pretty easy right? Wrong. I found after leaving the container in a bowl of hot water for 10 minutes, it was still too hard to stir. It took three rounds of hot water bath-vigorous stir cycle to get this to wear I could use it. I tasted it, and was sad that it did not taste nearly as good as I anticipated. It also had a weird gritty texture, and overall I was not crazy about it.
Since clearly this was not going to work as a spread for me, I instead used while cooking mulligatawny soup. I had created a low fat version of the soup without butter, cream, or milk, so the coconut manna helped add a bit of richness to it. However, it is still a bit high in calories to be something I would use daily. I will probably continue using olive oil for much of my cooking, but I do plan on experimenting with the coconut manna when making smoothies, sauces, desserts, and ethnic dishes. It did nicely in my soup.
I am not completely sold on coconut manna, but I am not ready to give up on it either.
I received this product for review as part of the Amazon Vine program.
