Which Coconut should I buy?

[Hurraw]

Hi all,

I hear a lot of talk about "young Thai coconuts," etc. I live in a HUGE Vietnamese community. So, I went to the Viet supermarket very excited about buying cheap coconuts and later making recipes. Problem is: They had three different varieties. Here is what they had.

1. Large hairy coconut.
2. Medium size coconut, shaved of all its hair.
3. Very small coconut, also shaved of all of its hair.

The two smaller coconuts had stickers on them saying "product of Thailand." So, I bought the medium HOWEVER inside was a very runny pink meat. I was not delighted. When I was in Vietnam, the Coconut meat is meaty and white. I was expecting white meaty meat.

Which one is the best?

Thanks!

[MysticTree]

Young coconuts have a thin jelly-like flesh but it is mostly the water which is enjoyed. The flesh is often used in smoothies etc.

[SunshineMN]

Some time ago there was a thread about coconuts here on one of the forums and they specifically talked about the whole pink thing. If I remember correctly, as long as the coconut doesn't smell or taste bad, it should be okay.

You might want to try a banana search to find it, but coconut and pink turned up a lot of posts and I don't have the time right now to run through them. I may try later if I have the time.

PS. Young coconuts tend to have a thick white outer husk not a brown hairy shell. The brown hairy part is under the thicker white outer husk. Here's a website (http://www.rawmazing.com/raw-food-all-about-young-coconuts/) that shows what they look like and how to open it. The pictures are quite good!

[walnutty]

As soon as I get the top off a coconut I take a spoon and taste the water. It will taste lightly sweet if good and will taste really off if bad. It sucks to ruin a whole smoothie with bad coconut water! Ü

[MysticTree]

I've got two days off work (tomorrow and friday). I plan to go get some young coconuts. I might even make a short video about opening one. I can add it to the millions of others on youtube ;)

[Raw Angel Mom]

Usually the skin is still on and this is white. You need to pill them with a sharp clever and then open them. Some don't pill them and just open them. I love the meat inside. The more they are young, the less thick will be the meat.

All the best!