coconuts

[RawMagnolia]

how do you break into them? Esp. so that you don't waste the water??

I can only get the old ones around here I'm afraid.

Thanks!
Sandra

[karenisraw]

WannaBRaw,

Here is how you do it. Take a HUGE knife, the biggest you can find. Set the coconut on the counter. Take the knife and whack it REAALLY hard to the right of the point on the top of the coconut. Rotate the coconut to the right 90 degrees and keep whacking so that you have whacked 4 whack marks, one on each side of the coconut. They should have intersected each other so it looks like you made a tic tac toe on top of your coconut. You should also have whacked hard enough so that you hear kind of a hissss like when you open a coffee can. Take the knife point or a large tablespoon and pry up the "center" of the tic tack toe. Pour out the coconut juice and you can now reach into the coconut with a tablespoon and scrape out the meat.

k
:p :p

[shelah]

wannabraw,
here's a link to a short video showing how to open a young coconut:

http://www.serenityspaces.org/coconut.asp

hope it's helpful!

[Salsify]

The trick with the knife would be too dangerous for me. I can see my fingers laying on the counter just by reading it... But maybe it's just me being to accident prone for that. I take a big long nail and tap it slightly with a hammer just about half an inch into two of the 'eyes'. Then I pour the milk in a glas. You have to shake the coconut up and down a bit when pouring. At this point I would take a tiny sip and if it has only the slightes bitter taste, take it back to the store, because the meat is already gone bad. If it tastes fresh, put the coconut in a big ziplock bag, zip it, place on a real hard surface (concrete floor works best) and hit the coconut with a hammer a few times. Hit it really hard. No need to hold the bag with the other hand (OUCH). The meat should now easily separate from the shell. This works best for me. I found that only really fresh coconut meat separates easily. That means like every 10th or so that I buy. Most of them are bad and I got tired of buying them. But maybe you are luckier.

[Sheryl]

My favourite way to open brown coconuts:

1) Use a thin sharp knife to make a hole through the soft eye
2) Drain Water (you may have to occasionally lift to allow new air in to speed things up)
3) Use the back of a sturdy knife (like a meat cleaver) to bang the coconut, working in a circle around the circumference. After about 2-4 knocks it will change sound and fall open into two almost perfect halves
4) Then use a short wide knife to make small cuts into the flesh, and then angel it to pop out the coconut. OR us a coconut grater. Last night I actually used the inside corner of the sharp edge of our 'neat' cleaver (it's never seen more than coconut meat!) to make small cuts and twist the flesh off - it worked amazing!

Optionally after draining water you can use the driveway method. Put the coconut in a strong bag, and whack it on the driveway again and again until it's all broken up!

Cheers,
Sheryl

[Guydiane]

I use my husband drill and drill a hole in it well 2 holes then I drain the milk out of it, then I hit it with a hammer.

[JinxieKat]

Sandra,
If you have a Walmart around you that has a grocery in it you can get the young coconuts. Just talk to the produce manager and explain what you want. They go thru Freida's? I think it is? to get them. I buy them there more often than not.

Jinx

[RawMagnolia]

Thanks so much everyone! And thanks for the tip JinxieKat... unfortunately we don't have the "super" WalMarts in Canada yet! At least in my part of Canada ;) But I'm sure it's only a matter of time. I did see them once at one of our Great Canadian Supermarkets. However, they were already moldy :(

I'll keep my eyes out for them tho!

Blessings,
Sandra