Coconuts

[SamuelWilson]

I have been buying coconuts and cracking a hole in them and drinking the milk and throwing them away. I don't like to be wasteful, but I do find it convenient. Am I the only who does this?

[jenna rose]

Why don't you open them up and use the 'meat' ? I hear it's great to make a coconut smoothie and what not.

[Autumn]

Goodness, they're not cheap. I most definitely scoop every bit of meat out of those little babies. :)

[SamuelWilson]

jenna rose, Autumn, yeah they are not cheap, I agree. I just don't feel like eating the coconut flesh all the time. I have been drinking 4 or 5 of these a day, instead of my usual half gallon of almond and/or brazil milk.

I sometimes make a smoothie out of the coconut flesh, so it is not everytime that I use them just for coconut milk.

[Maverick]

Why don't freeze some of it, and save it for later or take it to work and offer it to someone. Just some ideas instead of throwing it away. :)

[rawpriestess]

You can also dehydrate the flesh, or make macaroons, or use the coconut instead of nuts in recipes, etc.

There are thousands of uses of coconut flesh.

[tvillemom]

I tried to scrape the insides ONCE...because it was just too much work to do all the time.....any tips on that? I'm afraid of loosing an appendage while carving one of those bad boys!!
Wendi

[SamuelWilson]

tvillemom, when I am talking about coconuts, I am talking about young coconuts. The inside is soft and looks like white jelly. I have decided to just use some of them for coconut water only. I look at it like this, it is a little bit wasteful to only drink the water, but if it keeps me healthy, then why not.

Otherwise, I take the coconut water, then I scoop the inside out, then I put it in the blender with a little agave and make a coconut smoothie.

[Sasha1200]

i made the mistake of buying the uncut? brown coconut instead of the young coconuts this weekend. i tried to open it up the way alissa does in the video but the knife just bounced off the tough skin! i was so depressed. i even tried breaking it open with a hammer! that's how desperate i was to get some of the coconut milk! finally i went outside and threw it down on the concret hoping to open it up! it did! of course all of the wonderful coconut milk splashed every where :( I tried to scrape off the meat but that proved futile...

the trials and tribulation of raw newbie...

[ReneeSC]

Awwww, Sasha!!! Sorry!!

I've lost TWO.. baby Tai coconuts when I went first raw ( which, wasn't a long time ago ), because I didn't know what to do with them, either; although I DID have sense enough to drain off the coco water and freeze it until I figured out how to handle them.

I think I'm ready to tackle them again. There's no comparisson between the two ( baby tais and brown hawaiians )

[SamuelWilson]

Sasha1200, well you have to live to learn. When you do get a young coconut, they are worth it though. They have a cup and a half of coconut water in them, sometimes more. Actually, I am drinking one now, I treat the coconut as a big cup and just put a straw in the hole I cut. I add some agave nectar to it, so as to sweeten it some. However, it is naturally sweet already.

[Sasha1200]

ReneeSC and Samuel
Thanks for the encouragement! I just got a young thai coconut and am sooooo ready to try it. I've had young coconut milk at the Vietnamese restaurants and LOVED it but never had to put in the manual labor ;0)

[ladybug]

I plan on taking it tomorrow and put flesh and water with mangos in vitamixer, what do you think will it be good?

[Sharon in Colorado]

Samuel do you get organic cocos or the kind that are dipped in formalehyde before being shipped here?

[SamuelWilson]

I buy organic coconuts, they are not dipped in anything other than my shopping basket and then into my stomach :D

I still buy some of them, drink the coconut water and toss them. I use to think it was wasteful, but they are only $2 a piece. Think about all the people that go to a bar and get $6 mixed drinks.

I scrape out the white coconut if I need it immediately in a recipe. Otherwise, I don't bother. I can get coconuts year round, so if I want coconut, I want the freshest possible.

[ladybug]

I was able to buy one a wholefoods. It cost $2.79. I'm hoping mine was organic. So there is no way for me to get them year round. I plan on trying to open it this morning and drinking the water this evening. My son said he shared drinking one with a friend this past summer in the caribibian(sp) and they both had to rush to the facilities!!! I will put some of the meat in my son's mango shake that he has started to drink in the mornings.

[Raspberry4]

I wish I could get a 'young' coconut where I live. I once spent an entire week calling every grocery store and Asian market I could find in the yellow pages and everyone said no coconuts, or just the brown 'mature' ones are available and the cost is triple what most of you can get it for. I even was desperate enough to ask on the internet at some organic food places if they ship - no. It is very challenging and disheartening trying to be raw in a place that does not support it very well. But I love a good challenge. BTW - I bought Gabriel Cousen's book "Rainbow Green Live Food Cuisine" and it has alot of coconut recipes. Also, most of his recipes do not have alot of ingredients or hard to find ones like some of the raw books I have purchased. Once it gets past 10 ingredients, I lose interest. I am hoping to be able to get a coconut and try some of his recipes. And the journey continues... :p

[sweetgoddess]

Samuel, you are not alone. I also drink the milk and toss the coconut. For some reason I do not like the jelly flesh of the young thai coconut, but oh, how I love the milk!
I love the flesh of regular coconuts and have tried to make myself like the thai flesh. Didnt work. I could live on the water though. Yum.

[SamuelWilson]

I just wanted to add that coconut water one of the highest sources of electrolytes known to man. In can be used in place of Gatorade as a sports drink.

Some remote areas of the world even use coconut water intravenously, short-term, to help hydrate critically ill patients and in emergency situations. It was actually used on soldiers during World War II.

[Sharon in Colorado]

We only get the imported ones here, the ones that are dipped in chemicals. I also love them for their water - I have a couple in the fridge, going to make that chocolate mousse cake from the greenchefs site.

[Raspberry4]

Sweetgoddess - does that mean you are eating the brown ones? I was just wondering if they are alright to consume if that is all you can find. I read that they are 'mature' - but does that mean 'non-nutritional' in anyway? Please help. I got the idea the young/thai ones were the only ones to eat after reading Dr. Cousen's book - maybe I took the information the wrong way? :confused:

[RawTruth]

I would love to know where you can get organic young Thai coconuts for $2 each, Samuel. I just bought a case of 9 for $3.99 at a local Asian market. However, the only organic ones I know of in the U.S. are $5 to $6 each and available through purefoodnetwork.com which is local to me but ships all over the country.

I love the juice and the inside, too. I just scrape it out and eat it -- not blended or made into a recipe. It couldn't be simpler. The meat is firm and easy to scrape unless it's an older coconut in which case the meat is a bit harder to scrape away.

I personally could never just sip and toss. In fact, my friends give me their "empties" if they don't want the meat. Yay! More for me!

The white young Thai coconuts are not the same as the brown ones. There's a bunch of info on the internet about them. Also, there are a few links that show how to open them. I've posted here before about how I do it. It may be worth searching to get the info so you don't waste any.

As to getting them in Ohio -- I don't know which city you live in, but if there's a real Asian market, I betcha they have them. It may take you actually going there and looking, though, as the communication via phone is often not accurate. I hope you all succeed in finding/trying/drinking them -- it's definitely worth it.

[SamuelWilson]

I get organic young Thai coconuts for $2 each at the health food store locally.

[hotgugon]

do u know how much ea. young coconut yields in coconut milk and coconut meat?

[RawYogini]

I'm with you RawTruth!
Throwing away young coco flesh is liking eating half an avocado/mango and throwing out the rest. I love the flesh straight out of the coco or blended with red pepper to make soup or fruit/cacao to make a smoothie. The flesh is so versatile! I would love to try it with Pad Thai sometime, but cutting it into thin strips, is too much work for me! haha.
Scooping it out and dumping it into a blended with a piece of fruit is my version of "complicated gourmet." :p

[RawFoodieMom]

Samuel, where do you live??

Debra

[sport]

"Samuel, where do you live??"

If I had to guess I would say that he lives on cloud 9. He is always so positive and seems to have so much time to spare to come up with new ideas that he must have already achieved all the sucess that he needs in his other life. Glad to see that.

[Raw_Medic]

We have an organic health food store locally that also sell these for around $2.79. In the off months they are aroud $5. Samuel, in your coconut alfredo, how do you get the coconut like that? It looks firmer than the young coconut meat I'm use to. Are you dehydrating the coconut meat first?

Thanks!
Ursula

[maydolphin10]

send me the coconut meat! i LOVE it! :)

[Sharon in Colorado]

My friend got one of those big avocado scooper things at a Bed & Linen shop, which works perfectly for getting out the young coco meat in one fell swoop.

[jaurequi]

Coconut meat freezes very well. I use it in dressings; just throw some pieces in to the blender.

Also, coconut milk can be made with the meat (just blend with water and strain. Even then that pulp could be used in a recipe as is or dried); I would find it difficult to throw away the meat as well.

[Doe]

I like to blend the coconut water and meat together for a drink.

[raeannasun]

Just in case anyone didn't know, when you open a young coconut and the milk is pink, don't drink it! The milk should be a yellowy color. If it is a pinkish color it means the coconut is going bad.
Just FYI! :)
I love young coconuts, bananas and carob powder smoothies! Yum! Also, at our Asian market we can get a case of young coconuts for 8$!!! 6 of them come in a case so it works out to be about a buck .50 a piece!

[SamuelWilson]

I am currently at my Florida residence for those who asked where I am.

In regards to the coconut alfredo, they look more rigid in the pic because they have been coated in alfredo sauce. They are the same soft noodles you would cut out of a young coconut. I would say the ones I used in that recipe were leaning more towards the mature side. Young coconuts vary from one to another, you just have to open and see what you come up with.

Just got done drinking a young coconut a few minutes ago actually. I went ahead and eat the young coconut fruit this time. The reason I just drink the coconut water sometimes is because I can always get coconut fruit. I see no reason to freeze the fruit when I have a never ending supply of fresh coconut. I do cut them in half though and put them outside. The opossums like to eat young coconut fruit.

[Doe]

So you are doing something good with the flesh even when you personally don't eat it. Those racoons have it made.

Teri S

[RawTruth]

In regards to the coconut alfredo, they look more rigid in the pic because they have been coated in alfredo sauce. Hmmmm ... I'm confused. Did you post a picture somewhere?

[Doe]

Here it is RT: http://www.rawfoodtalk.com/forum/showthread.php?p=78130&highlight=alfredo#post78130

Teri S

[SamuelWilson]

RawTruth, I have attached the picture to this message also so people don't have to jump over to the other thread.

[Salsify]

Sasha1200, I get a screwdriver, a hammer and a freezer bag for opening the brown coconut. I put the coconut on a hard surface, preferable concrete floor, put the screwdriver on one of the 3 little dark spots on top, and tap carefully with the hammer. Same on a second hole. I pour the milk into a container, put the coconut in the freezer bag back on the floor, and hammer it into several pieces. You have to use some force. It always works for me and the flesh separates easily from the shell.

[WillLove]

samualwilson
I do the same thing. I put a straw sized hole in the coconut stick a straw in it ,Drink every drop of that great tasting coconut water.yummm.....Then i toss it cause its to much trouble to get the meat out.