I purchased one of these recently after reading so many things about the benefits of coconut water. Forgive my ignorance, but I lived for quite some time in Belize, Central America and used plenty of fresh (mature) coconuts for daily cooking, but we never used "young coconuts" that were mostly just filled with water. I have a really dumb question about the young coconuts. I noticed that they were mostly filled with water, but when I scraped the sides of the shell, there was a thin, mucous-like substance. Is this the beginnings of the "meat" before it matures? I wasn't sure if it was edible or normal because I don't know much about coconuts other than cracking them open and shelling out the meat for cooking and coconut milk, etc.

Thanks for inforomation.

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"Educate and inform the whole mass of the people... They are the only sure reliance for the preservation of our liberty."
—Thomas Jefferson

Yes, that's the young meat. Sometimes it's jelly-like, sometimes it's firmer. Sometimes thin, sometimes thick.

After drinking the water, scrape it out with a teaspoon/long-handled teaspoon - it's wonderful!

When it's quite firm, you can slice it into strips and lay it over a salad, with perhaps a little lime juice, mmmmm...sorry, this is just transporting me back to my holiday in Thailand couple of months ago.

Oh wonderful!! THANK YOU !! I'm glad to know I eat it. Can't wait to try another one soon. THANK YOU. =)

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"Educate and inform the whole mass of the people... They are the only sure reliance for the preservation of our liberty."
—Thomas Jefferson

Yes. I agree with Debbietook. The immature meat can also be a great treat! I never had one at all till I went to RawFest back in 2007.. I believe.

-David Z. Mason

WWW.RawFoodFarm.com

On the subject og coconuts, what's the difference between the young Thai coconuts and the green Florida coconuts???

Ok, well here's another dumb question? How does that thin, jelly-like layer get so thick and hard to be the MATURE coconut meat with less water in the shell ?? I'm sure that sounds like a completely stupid question, but it baffles me nonetheless. =)

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"Educate and inform the whole mass of the people... They are the only sure reliance for the preservation of our liberty."
—Thomas Jefferson

plainlydressed,

The coconut slowly grows and the meat grows with it, while the water(the most nutritious and tasty part, IMO)dehydrates and concentrates. A mature, windfallen coconut that has germinated itself into the soil where it has fallen is supposed to be cotton-candy like on the inside, and to taste "elusive." A fascinating process all around!

Jonl138,

if you mean by the Thai coconuts the white coconuts that are sort of cylinder-shaped with a point at the top, they're simply the green coconuts, shaved of the green. I've often been told the shaved ones are sprayed with something nasty, but to what extent this permeates the flesh inside (if at all) I'm not sure. I certainly ate plenty of them in Thailand, although also partook of the green ones that were all over the yard at the house I stayed in (with Darrick, Harley aka durianrider, Freelea et al!).

I live in Canada. I hear all about these great young coconuts but I have never seen them in a store. All I see are the hard brown ones. Where do we Canadians find them?

The taste of the young coconut meat is kinda bland IMO and so is the juice but when blended together it fits the definition of synergism because together they taste amazing.

EZ,

Now throw in some ripe mango--vegan mango lassi! YUMMO!

fiddler1 , ive only seen them in canada in asian markets and at canadian superstore, i think once they had them in safeway, but havent seen them there in a long time and overwaitea/save-on foods occaisionally has them.

maybe talk to you grocer manager and see if they cant bring some in

...Jodi, the banana eating buddhist

What part of Canada do you peeps who are having trouble finding coconuts live in? You can get coconuts, all year `round, most days at:
Safeway
Superstore
Sobey's
Co-op
Save On Foods
T&T
Asian Markets
etc.

We've been eating coconuts from grocery stores here in Canada since the 1960's... imagine!

im out in the fraser valley, bc (100 miles east of vancouver)

...Jodi, the banana eating buddhist