I'm living in Miami now and I see coconuts everywhere! Is it safe to just pick one off the tree in my yard and eat it?? Parden my ignorance but I just want to be sure.

What about the ones that are already on the ground??

Jen Rose

"You must first unlearn the lies, and then you will have room for the truth"

Heck yeah!

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I have one in my yard filled with coconuts been eating and drinking the water from them for years no problem just make sure you dont pick a rancid one or too old,the younger the coco the better and fresher.

Cherimoya
Love Peace and Happiness,

Fresh from the garden must be the yummiest ones.

Gosia


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Oooooh! I'm so jealous!

SWEET! That is GREAT NEWS! Ok, so how do I know if it's old or new?

I'm going to pick one right now!

Jen Rose

"You must first unlearn the lies, and then you will have room for the truth"

Hmm..on second thought I'll have to wait till t'row. heh heh...it's pretty dark to be tryin to get a coconut down from a tree...Shoot - Any suggestions on how to get those suckers down??

Jen Rose

"You must first unlearn the lies, and then you will have room for the truth"

For us it seems sometimes we just don't know if the meat will be hard or soft until we open it. The harder meat is just as OK to eat as the softer meat, though it is of course richer in calories and fat. What we usually do is give the harder meat to the doggies (they love it) and eat the spooners ourselves.

If you get one with no meat, well then it was just too young.

The main thing either way is to not eat a rancid one, and you will know it is rancid by the smell, or definitely by the taste. If the coconut husk cracks when it falls to the ground, you should try to eat those right away, because any cracks or holes in the husk that happen to go through the shell, will cause the coco to go rancid.

You can attach a hook, like from a little hand sickle, to the end of a long pole, and take them down that way. Or of course, see if you can get a ladder tall enough. Unless you know someone who can climb them. Maybe check the newspaper for anyone who gets down cocos.

Best wishes, -Ally



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 07/28/2006 03:39AM by Ally.

Having your own coconut tree gives you the choice of using it as a "water coconut" or as a "dry coconut". The main difference is the amount of water in it. The younger coconut has more water is in it and the flesh consists of a thin soft layer sometimes referred to as a jelly. The dry coconut just sat longer on the tree, has less water and the jelly is now hard with a thicker layer than the jelly. Depending on the consistency of the flesh (jelly vs hard) you can prepare different dishes.

To get a better idea what the dry coconut looks like go by a hispanic grocery store such as Sedanos. Sometimes Publix and Winn Dixie carries them also. And depending on the neighborhood you're in you can sample some of the snacks made from the dried coconut flesh.

Wishing you vibrant health

Thanks for the tips guys!!

Jen Rose

"You must first unlearn the lies, and then you will have room for the truth"

Me and my husband were walking our dog around our neighborhood last night and I noticed a bunch of small Palm trees with coconuts easy to reach. Well I grabbed 3 of them and just twisted them to get them off the tree. Then when we got home we took a hammer to them (the back of the hammer) and pried them open. I have to say it was really hard to get into those things! I cracked mine before getting it open and the water started spilling out so I collected it in a cup. One of them was a young one, chock full of water and the meat was yummy and soft. The second one was older with water in it but the meat was harder. My dog had no interest in it! The third had a crack in it and smelled funny so I even didn't bother opening it. We ate some last night and saved the rest for our soothie this morning...YUM! What an adventure!!!

Hopefully we'll find a better way to open them...I noticed the smaller brown coconut part never wanted to seperate from the outer shell. We had to crack the whole thing open in two to even get into the brown part. Interesting. Yay, we did it!!

Jen Rose

"You must first unlearn the lies, and then you will have room for the truth"

Jen:

It may be easier to open your coconuts with a machete than with a hammer.

If it's a water coconut, cut off the top, get the water out, then cut off the rest of the husk to get the meat. As you've seen, when it's full of water, it has a lot of pressure so at times it may spurt out initially.

Wishing you vibrant health

Thanks for the tip! Gotta put that on my grocery list....must buy machete.

Jen Rose

"You must first unlearn the lies, and then you will have room for the truth"

Just came back from my friend's home. She has 3 great coconut trees, doesn't eat the coconuts and asked me if I'd "do her a favor" and take them.

OH YEAH BABY!

I now have a mess o' coconuts, can't wait to machete one o' those guys for tonight's smoothie....

YUMMIE!

Oh my God I just had the BEST coconut experience in my life!!

So after a nice bike ride in my sunny neighborhood I come home and take the ladder out to reach the coconuts on my tree. Next to the ladder was this pole thingy with a branch cutter on the top and a string to pull the blade closed -

A Coconut Picker!!! YES!

The lady we're renting the house from must have left it there...SCORE! so I get 3 coconuts down - open 'em up and there was no water - just hard meat. Went back to the tree and studied all the coconuts and noticed the ones highest up were the smoothiest and prettiest looking - got three of those down. So, I'm getten really good at opening them now (with just a hammer) but I"m getting really thirsty and sweaty doing all this work. With one smooth wack I made a hole for the water to come gushing out and

- OH MY GOD it was the BEST tasting "Nectar of the Gods" sweetness I have ever tasted!!!!! I got a full cup of it!!!

Then I opened the rest of them up, sat there in the beautiful sunlight on my front portch, sweat pouring down my face, spooning and slurping away....wow. The most refreshing thing I have ever tasted.

I felt totally in tune with nature.

What a blissfull moment.

Just had to share it.

Jen Rose

"You must first unlearn the lies, and then you will have room for the truth"

California has some palm trees too right? I want to move there soon.

Erin

WOWee!

Good job Jen Rose! Sounds like coconut Heaven!



Edited 2 time(s). Last edit at 07/31/2006 02:40AM by Ally.

Yes California has palm trees but you won't find any coconuts on them. It's too cold. You will find dates though. South California is a great climate for growing dates.

BTW, you can plant one of those coconuts in the ground and grow another tree if the current one gets too tall. I'm not sure how long it will take to fruit but in the tropics it only takes about 3 years.

Bubba

<surfer voice>DUDE! GLOBAL WARMING! We might get coconuts in California soon!</surfer voice>

I would love to pick fresh coconuts. Maybe one day.

The way I normally open is mine is to hack to small holes (one for water out and one for air in) on the top, drain it, hack to the top off, then enjoy my drink and flesh. Another option I've used is a power drill, I even keep a "kitchen bit" which I only use for food. Just drill two small holes on the top a few inches apart. I just a 1/2 inch wood drill bit.

Cheers,
Ian.

OOoo...a drill...nice! I have to try that, thanks!

Jen Rose

"You must first unlearn the lies, and then you will have room for the truth"

A young coconut is a green coconut that has no wrinkles or sunken in spots and will have the sweetest and largest amount of water. Though it will not have any or much pulp and if there is pulp, it will be very thin and soft. A mature coconut is one that is brown in color, and has wrinkles and sunken in spots and is best for its delicious and thick meat. A mature coconut will be good in room temp. for up to 12 months, this is because it is actually a seed or nut and will sprout a new tree if planted in its growing climate. The longer a coconut has been on the ground, the thicker its meat will be and the less water it will have as the water turns into meat. You can tell if a coconut is good or not, if found on the ground, by shaking it to hear if there is water inside. This will indicate if the coconut had been cracked or not. If a coconut does not sound like water is inside when shaken then it has either cracked on the ground from the fall and is most likely no good, or it is a very old coconut that no longer has water because it turned completely to meat. Once a coconut is old enough to have turned completely to meat, it will go bad soon after, as it has used up its substance.

I know all of this from years of finding and cracking open coconuts in florida(found outside, not store bought). A coconut is very difficult to open and will take practice until you can open them quickly, so be patient. I love coconut and will use its meat to make coconut milk and coconut flour(from the leftover pulp), which are both very easy processes if you have a blender, a strainer, and an oven. If interested in this, research "how to make coconut milk and flour" on youtube.

Here are some pictures of mature versus young coconuts(copy and paste into browser)

mature:
[upload.wikimedia.org]

Young:
[1.bp.blogspot.com]

HELL YEAH!!



I was in heaven after Hurricanes come through, all the coconuts all over the streets!

CoconutCream, from the picture, the coconut looks like perfect soft meat. How was it?

I like it like that - white and past the clear jelly stage but still soft. So good! My doggie likes it too. No. He loves it. He always gets some.

I was "Ally" up there in the earlier posts. Our two dogs from those days have long since passed. They probably really are in coconut heaven.

Ally? 811 Ally? Bobby Barbaro Ally?

coconutcream Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> Ally? 811 Ally? Bobby Barbaro Ally?

No. Just me, Ally.