Coconut Liquid and Preparation Help

[Sactown]

I'm sitting here drinking the water I just drained from my first coconut. It tastes pretty good. Got > 2 cups.

I was wondering if the coconut water should be consumed immediately or can I save some for later? Also, when I blast this sucker open, I'm not sure how to prepare the coconut meat? Can I eat it out of the shell, should it be dehydrated before consumption? How long will the coconut meat last and should it be refrigerated? (Sorry for referring to meat on this forum but I'm not sure what else to call it.)

Feedback would be appreciated!!
DJ

[Ama]

I believe it is really referred as coconut meat and the liquid as coconut water. I have saved the water as I savor it. I will have small cups over a week period. If you wanted to keep it over a week, I have no experience, mine never lasts that long once opened but I see no reason why you couldn't freeze it. The coconut meat should be refrigerated. I have kept young coconut meat in the fridge for about a week (then I used it so I have no experience with longer times) and I've had mature coconut meat in the fridge for a few weeks. Again, if you plan to keep it for a long time without using, freeze it. I have found that raw foods defrost very fast so when in doubt, freeze!

[Sactown]

Thank you for responding, I really appreciate the info.

Can you share how you used the coconut?

I broke into it and the coconut meat is kind of like the consistency of a carrot, it is kind of hard. I was wondering if I should shread it and add to a smoothie or add to a desert maybe. I'm just not sure how to prepare the meat for use.

Any info would be appreciated.

Thanks,
DJ

[solarliving]

I freezed the meat and it was still good after at least a month. Coconut milk is so good with frozen bananas. You can also make some coconut macaroons.

[Ama]

I am assuming you have a mature coconut if it is the consistency of a carrot. It had a brown hairy shell? (the young ones are white with a point wrapped in plastic) I didn't really know what to do with it either. I ended up snacking on it as is. I added some to my banana ice cream by putting it though my juicer with the blank plate on. I think I put some in a smoothie but don't remember. It was so much trouble to open the coconut and clean the meat. Once you get the meat free from the shell there is a layer of other stuff you have to get off. I did it with a peeler but it took way too long. I haven't bought another one since.

[Sactown]

Great info! The one I bought was hairy white, not cleaned up like the white one's with the definite tip.

I think I will peel the thin layer off of it and shread the meat and try it.

I wonder if I could juice it? Do you know if that would work? I guess I could try it with my juicer.

[Stina]

I'm not satisfied with my method of opening up the coconuts. Any suggestions so that I can retain all ten digits?

[Sactown]

To open the coconut I got a big nail and hammer.

On the end that has the 3 indentations, I hammered the nail into two of the holes. I had to make the hole wider and repeated the step above until the hole was big enough.

Then I shook it and got it to drain into a glass.

After that, I put the sucker in two plastic bags and hit it against the concrete to break apart.

Hope this helps.

[curl e locs]

uh..how do u open the young white coconut? I've seen these at the farmers market..but did not know what they were until now.

[laurabfig]

After that, I put the sucker in two plastic bags and hit it against the concrete to break apart.

Hope this helps.
this made me laugh out loud. :) Sounds like a much better way to do it than hacking at the thing with a sharp knife!!! I'm going to try this next time!

[luvmangos]

Discovered another way to open a coconut this weekend…. carve the top (body to the point) with a knife, i use a bread knife. Using a hammer put a whole in the middle top with a nail, screwdriver etc and then another on the other side and drain milk. Make the whole kinda big or it takes forever to drain. Put coconut on side and saw away with bread knife. I cut it right where the body starts curving and making the point, this is where i ended cutting the husk. Having the husk gone makes it so much easier to break into.

[Lay-Lay]

coconut water is best used right away to obtain the most benefit. it is full of electolytes. Yes the meat will keep sealed in the fridge for a couple days or much longer periods in the freezer. To use it on pies and date balls, etc. its nice to have some dehydrated coconut on hand to sprinkle on these things...hmmm I always liked dried coconut in banana creme pie. There's no perdect way to open a coconut. Be careful and alert and have fun!

[tmpleier]

I have been using a chisel and hammer to cut a circle around the top of the coconut. I use the plastic wrap that it comes in to cover the cuts as I go to keep the water from splashing out. I use about a 1 1/2" stainless chisel and make sure it is clean and very dry so it doesn't rust. No fear in opening coconuts now.

[Mary Kay]

go to youtube and google open a young coconut, and you will find many options - for opening a young one anyway.

Haven't really looked on there for older/mature coconuts, but would guess you could eliminate the word "young."

HTH,

Mary Kay.

[coconut-slave]

I work at a restaurant where we crack open about 30 to 60 young thai coconuts every day, and, at the risk of sounding rude, I found this thread to be quite hilarious. I haven't checked out the youtube videos, referenced above, but I'm sure they would be helpful to anyone who is ready to throw their coconut off of a tall building or run it over with their car. All you really need is a good, heavy chef's knife. Assuming that the videos give legitimate instructions, I won't bother typing out a description of my method, but I will suggest putting a damp kitchen towel under it to prevent it from slipping while you're wacking at it. Also, the bigger the opening you make on the top, the easier it will be to scrape the meat out. I suggest you chop out a big octagon instead of a little square or triangle. If your scraping tool still isn't doing it for you, chop the whole thing in half first, and then scrape. We have a tool at work with which you can take it all out in one piece.

Put the meat in water before cleaning it. This will loosen the brown fibers, although THE FIBERS ARE COMPLETELY EATABLE and will blend just fine into puddings, smoothies, etc. The only thing you really have to look out for are the actual shards of shell that will only be found along the edge of the meat that ran adjacent to the opening you made with your knife.

As for refrigeration, the food-service standard is five days for just about anything that has been cut with a knife , or processed in any way. There are some exceptions (prepared melons , for example, have a very short shelf life.) The meat and water will last at least five days in the refrigerator. We freeze tons of meat, all the time.

don't get me started on recipes.............