Coconut Palm Sugar Making

Nam tan maprao, coconut palm sugar, is central to Thai cooking - it is the sweetener in curries, dressings and desserts, less sharply sweet than cane sugar and with a caramel note - and Samut Songkhram is where most of the good stuff comes from. The process runs twice a day. A climber goes up each palm, cuts the tip of the flower stalk and hangs a bamboo tube to catch the sap, which is collected the following morning and evening; the sap ferments quickly, so it goes straight into large open pans over wood fires in an orchard hut and is boiled down for hours, stirred continuously, until it thickens and is poured into moulds or containers. The huts are smoky, hot and open-sided, and many welcome visitors to watch and buy - the sugar bought at the hut is fresher and cheaper than anything sold elsewhere. Climbers work at height on notched poles without equipment.

What you actually see

• The climbing - sap collected from flower stalks at the top of each palm.
• The boiling - open pans over wood fires, stirred for hours in the huts.
• The moulding - the thickened sugar poured into containers to set.
• The twice-daily cycle - collection morning and evening because the sap ferments.

When to go

November to February for the weather. Boiling happens in the morning and again in the afternoon after collection - either window works. Two hours covers a visit.

Honest expectations

Working orchard huts, not a demonstration - ask before entering or photographing. Hot and smoky inside. Climbers work at height without equipment; watching is fine, but the work is dangerous. Cash only.

Nearby

Amphawa floating market is close; the Maeklong railway market and Don Hoi Lot are nearby.