Eeeew! Nasty coconut...

[ManyLittles]

I tried a brown coconut for the first time this week. I'd had the white trimmed pointy-topped ones many times, and loved them. But someone on here mentioned that they are treated with formaldehyde.

Well, when I opened the brown one I bought, it had a terrible smell. It wasn't purple inside, so I tasted the coco water, and spit it out immediately. It tasted and smelled of chemicals, maybe like alcohol or something. Any idea what it could be? Is it gone bad, even though it's not purple? Has it been treated?

Has anyone else experienced this? I'm definitely getting my money back for it, but I'm just wondering. Thanks.

[raweater]

Getting your money back? How much are they? Here in Canada they are $1.29 each, it is the cheapest food per calorie there is. I often get bad ones (when I wait too much before opening them or don't check them properly before buying) but I've never bothered for a refund since they are the cheapest food there is and when I'm careful I can avoid bad ones, I consider it my fault when I get a bad one.

Now you mentioned chemical taste, when a mature coconut is bad I find it tastes like soap, like biting into a bar of soap (yes, it is horrible, but this means it's gone bad), is that what it tasted like? If so it simply means it was bad.

I also have never seen a mature coconut go purple.

Here are tricks to see if it's good or bad, no garantees though:
-Shake it, you should hear a considerable amount of water sloshing around inside (mature ones are not full of water like the young ones), if it sounds like there's not much water, it's probably bad
-Look at it, often when it's bad you can see weird areas on the shell
-Smell it, the soap taste/smell is often evident through the shell if it's bad, but the ones I get are wrapped and sealed in plastic
-Eat it within a few days of buying, when I get a bad one, it's almost always when I waited a week or more before opening it

I LOVE mature coconut, because it's VERY calorie dense (over 1400 calories PER NUT, that's 2 meals worth from one $1.29 nut! Amazing!) and tastes amazing. When I want a quick meal I break open a coconut and eat it's meat.

I like young coconut also, especially for the water, the ones I've gotten recently had very, very little meat, like mayber 1/4 cup per nut! Anyone know if this is normal? I don't think it is.

Thanks

[ManyLittles]

I don't agree. Why would I blame myself for getting bad produce? Naturally, I shook it and looked it over, and even smelled it. I carefully check all my produce. I sometimes get something with a bad bit inside it, and I usually just cut it off and not worry about it. But why should I lose $2.50 for a coconut that wasn't just a little bad, but so truly disgusting that I was sick to my stomach for a half hour, just from having the water in my mouth for a split second--and I have a strong stomach. Even after I dumped the water and wrapped the coconut in plastic (so I could show the store, later), the whole house was permeated with the terrible smell for the rest of the night.

If I don't tell the store about the issue, then it will never be resolved. Perhaps their supplier is slipping them bad fruit, or old fruit--if I owned a store, I'd want to know that. A business won't know if the products they are carrying are not up to par unless people let them know.

If I spend my hard-earned money on something, I should get what I'm paying for. Certainly no one should complain over every little bruise on a fruit, but if the produce is completely inedible the same day it is purchased, that is not acceptable to me. Maybe some people can afford to throw $2.50 or more in the trash every week. I'm happy that they have so much that they can spare that. I don't. And it doesn't seem like it would matter to me how many calories it has, if it doesn't end up inside of me!

I guess I'll just stick to buying young thai coconuts at the other hfs. After I get my money back for this one! :p

[rawbutterfly]

Raweater-sure seems like you have more negative things to say than good. Most of your posts lately have been rude or negative. What's up with that??
Even with great care, we sometime purchase things that are bad. You yourself said it has happened to you. The store does need to take responsibility for that.

[dkreller]

Hi,

I am probably eating about 80% raw and working to increase that percentage. I have recently started trying some new foods including raw coconut to see how they make me feel. Just today I brought home a coconut from our local 'Earth Fare' store (Augusta, GA US) and was looking forward to having some of it with my lunch. But as soon as I got a good whiff of the water that drained from it I know something was wrong. The water had a terrible soapy/ chemical smell that make me wonder (like the person in the previous post) if the coconut had been treated with some chemical. Weird. I went ahead and cracked the thing open and even though the meat looked normal, that smell permeated the meat also. I was getting a bit uptight too, but when I checked my receipt I saw it only cost me $1.49 then I wasn't so worried about it. It's a judgement call. Absolutely, an individual has the right to seek a refund for fruit that is bad/inedible, but you've got to decide how much of your time it is worth. It's about a 20 minute drive from my house and it's not worth the time and gas. I just recently started buying coconuts and I consider this a lesson, I am now learning what to check for when buying these nuts. If a large percentage of the coconuts I get from that store are bad, I'll let them know and I'll start seeking refunds.

Cheers,

David

[sprouts2go]

I bought my first brown coconut about a month ago. When i got home my bag was wet and I saw that one of the eyes had weeped. I cracked it and tossed it to the critters outside.. If it had stuff weeping out it probably had stuff going in. Not worth my time to drive 45mins to return it. They also cut open the baby thai coconuts and cover the tem with wrap. No thanks. I will crack my own thai nuts.

[gabriele]

It seems to me that it's very hard knowing exactly what kind of coconut you are buying. Even following all the advice, we get some that are just horrible followed by some that are delicious.

The one young thai coconut we got was horrendous......the juice was ok but the pulp was blech........didn't even taste like a coconut, maybe some people prefer it that way, i'm funny, i want a coconut to taste like a coconut!!

I figure the people at the grocery store don't have a clue either, they are too busy taking care of all the raw meat, milk, eggs and luncheon meats to care much about the coconuts.