I successfully opened my first coconut! Now what? LOL :)

[phedre]

I've bought coconut before and always mangled it so badly that the water and meat inside were pretty much inedible. Today I decided to give it another shot and for the first time it actually worked! But I wasn't really expecting it to open, so now I don't actually have anything planned to do with it.

Any good suggestions of things I can make with it? :D Because coconut has never worked for me before, I've never paid any attention to any recipes that use it so I'm pretty clueless. Just please don't suggest eating/drinking it the way it is because I'm not crazy about the taste alone :D

[klomasius]

Make it into a custard!

Use the jelly meat you scrape out, put that into a blender and blend with a sweetener (couple of dates will do) some bananas, and maybe some flavour (berries, or cinnamon, nutmeg and clove, or chocolate). Add the coconut water to thin it a bit if you like, or put the coconut water in green smoothies or milk shakes.

Use the coconut jelly in a pie, blend it with some coconut oil to make a cream, there are so many things to do!

Have fun!

[spicyfull]

See how unexpected Pleasures happen. Adding it to a Green Smoothie would be the Simpliest thing.

[RawKnitster]

Congrats on your coconut opening!

My favorite coconut recipe tastes like vanilla yogurt.

Put the water and meat in blender with juice of a lemon, 3-4 T. grade B maple syrup (or sweetener of your choice), 1-2 T. coconut oil, vanilla bean or extract, and 1/2 to 1 cup cashews. Blend until smooth. Add more cashews to make it thicker. It will set up a bit more in the fridge. It will keep for about 3 days.

[raweater]

It depends if it is a young or a mature coconut, the texture is completely different and they cannot be used interchangeably. From the sounds of it it looks like a mature coconut, if so it will not work in a smoothie (if you try drinking a smoothie with blended mature coconut it's undrinkable, the thick coconut fiber will block your mouth as soon as you try to drink it, I've wasted 1-2 smoothies this way).

[Eva]

raweater brings up a good point. Is it the brown hairy kind or the white kind?

[RawKnitster]

I have to pass this link along. It ended my frustration with young coconuts.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=THEdI_gSNQ4

It really is just that easy. :)

[Eva]

RawKnitster! I have that video on my website. I love it. Super helpful...

BUT...

There is an even EASIER way to open them! You can just put your left hand behind your back (you know, so you don't chop it off!), then take a cleaver and whack the heck out of the top 5 times to make a star-like shape, then it just opens like magic. Takes (literally) about 5-10 seconds.

Plus you can get out any pent-up frustration if you have any. :D:p

[SweetTangerine]

Congrats on your coconut opening!

My favorite coconut recipe tastes like vanilla yogurt.

Put the water and meat in blender with juice of a lemon, 3-4 T. grade B maple syrup (or sweetener of your choice), 1-2 T. coconut oil, vanilla bean or extract, and 1/2 to 1 cup cashews. Blend until smooth. Add more cashews to make it thicker. It will set up a bit more in the fridge. It will keep for about 3 days.
I miss yogurt! I will have to try this.

[RawKnitster]

Thanks, Eva! I've seen that done at a food fair, but don't have a cleaver to try it at home. Not to sure about my aim either. My kitchen counter still has a hole in it from the old days when I used a hammer and screwdriver to crack them. :)

[JCB44]

I have to pass this link along. It ended my frustration with young coconuts.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=THEdI_gSNQ4

It really is just that easy. :)


Great link rawknister thanks if we ever get any coconuts in northern NM I know what to do

[RawKnitster]

I miss yogurt! I will have to try this.


That reminds me, I posted that recipe with pictures. At the time I called it Coconut-cashew creme pudding, but it really is closer to yogurt.

http://www.rawfoodtalk.com/showthread.php?t=44335&highlight=coconut+cashew+creme

[Eva]

Thanks, Eva! I've seen that done at a food fair, but don't have a cleaver to try it at home. Not to sure about my aim either. My kitchen counter still has a hole in it from the old days when I used a hammer and screwdriver to crack them. :)

LOL! Fair enough! I have a monster-sized cutting board that covers an entire counter, so my counter is safe. ;)

[phedre]

I think it is a young white coconut. I get it at an Asian store and can't read the writing on the label, haha. But it is white on the outside and filled with water and then with the white meat stuck to the inside of the shell. I only knew of the hacking with the cleaver method before and I have HORRIBLE aim apparently and would just beat the thing into a pulp because I couldn't actually hit the thing in any way that would open it. I just found out about this shaving technique like they did in the youtube video and that worked for me so at least I've finally found something!! :D

Thanks for the suggestions!! I'm so freaking excited to use it :D

[klomasius]

Congrats on your coconut opening!

My favorite coconut recipe tastes like vanilla yogurt.

Put the water and meat in blender with juice of a lemon, 3-4 T. grade B maple syrup (or sweetener of your choice), 1-2 T. coconut oil, vanilla bean or extract, and 1/2 to 1 cup cashews. Blend until smooth. Add more cashews to make it thicker. It will set up a bit more in the fridge. It will keep for about 3 days.

Sounds good! I think that's what I'll use my young coconut in the fridge for!

I always use the quick cleavering round the top method for opening young coconuts, really quick and a good violence outlet. LOL!

[Visorblue]

Thanks, Eva! I've seen that done at a food fair, but don't have a cleaver to try it at home. Not to sure about my aim either. My kitchen counter still has a hole in it from the old days when I used a hammer and screwdriver to crack them. :)

That's because you watched this one from "Expert" Village first. :eek:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Myc_SL4Pphw

[Visorblue]

I bought two young coconuts a couple months ago as I was so excited to find them at a place close to me. Neither were ever opened as I had no clue of what to do with them. A month or so later I trashed them. :mad:

A while ago I watched a video on the Food Network's site, Raw Food Trends, (http://www.foodnetwork.com/videos/raw-food-trends/1319.html) which changed my ideas about raw food (another show on the Food Network is how I got into raw). I saw them doing a couple of things with young coconuts that looked interesting. I'd like to try something soon myself.

I've heard that the inside of some young coconuts is jelly-like and others not. Is it a crap shoot or is there a way to tell? I'd like to get some like in the above video. Any clues?