How does one open one of these young coconuts????

Interesting that you should ask... there are a ton of videos on youtube and I was just watching them two days ago. Be sure to watch a variety of videos because some folks do it the hard way and some are true artists at it.

[www.youtube.com]

Thank you for your reply

This young lady has a good way of doing it...

[www.youtube.com]

...but I use John Kohler's method, it seems to work better for me.

[www.youtube.com]

right at about the 5 min. mark, or maybe a bit earlier, he gets right to it.

I have mentioned this before, but I use an inexpensive paring knife and it does the trick. I do not use large knives for safety's sake. It was such a rush when I was able to open a yc with a relatively dull knife! You just shave the sides of the point, start stabbing the sides 'til you hit the 'sweet spots' Then you saw thru the holes around and the lid comes off (pry it off with a wooden spoon or other utensil). Just another perspective, if you are like me

@ banana who: I shall follow your method once

I have drank over 35,000 coconuts in the past 43 years of raw foods in hawaii.
Most of the methods I see are quite primitive compared to being proficient with a good machete with short blade

THAT'S a lot of coconuts!!

Im sure they where quite a lovely bunch of coconuts ^_^

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Oh, mirror in the sky
What is love?
Can the child within my heart rise above?
Can I sail through the changing ocean tides?
Can I handle the seasons of my life?

Curator,

Um, where is that from, because all I'm thinking of is that "Spitting Image" gag?

aijazkhan81,

I still think a dull knife is the wrong tool to use, but whatever one is comfortable with is what one should use. I have always used the method in the Steffy Sue vid posted by jk, above, and found it is efficient and safe. But it does require practice! Good luck!

theres a song "Ive got a lovely bunch of coconuts, deedle eee dee, all of them a standing in a row... big ones small ones some as big as your head." thats where I know it from.

---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Oh, mirror in the sky
What is love?
Can the child within my heart rise above?
Can I sail through the changing ocean tides?
Can I handle the seasons of my life?

Curator,

Oh. That must be where the "Spitting Image" folks got it from.

I just searched for it on YouTube; no SI version, but there was this:

[www.youtube.com]

It appears that coconuts are migratory. who'd have thought...???
[www.youtube.com]

LOL

hahahahahahaha, dont even get me started on monty python, this is going soooo off topic im gonna end up getting us moved to other forum if I start on monty python,LOL... *...it could grip it by the husk!...*

---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Oh, mirror in the sky
What is love?
Can the child within my heart rise above?
Can I sail through the changing ocean tides?
Can I handle the seasons of my life?

i drill mine with a rechargeable drill, drain it , then whack it with a mallet to break it into 2 or 3 peices ... i have fear of sharp knives lol

...Jodi, the banana eating buddhist

Where can I get a good solid machete for this job? I always loved those big hatchet type blades for coco opening. just hope that's coconut opening and not CocoMama opening, yipes!

BTW I totally love that song. Hmm hmm hmm hmm hmm hmm....

Thank you all.
I appreciate your answers

I love the drill method for getting the water out. One good size hole makes for quick draining, though my experience is only with brown coconuts and I use an old pair of scizzors to auger out the soft "coconut eye".

Chef Steffy Sue has impeccable knife skills using "the claw" [www.thekitchn.com] finger position even when cutting into the coconut husk, and she's cute and funny!

Thanks, John for noting the barbaric old meat clever method (fun though it was flirting with danger) and for the very informative update.

I've seen videos using the half machete and full machete and they take some axe/sword skill. Fred Bisci and Paul Nissan have that method (full machete) down too and have done a video.

For a good machete, coco, you might try looking for a vintage one. Modern day machetes, I've read and use one, are made out of cheap stamped steel that doesn't hold an edge well. I love mine though sharpen it a lot.

a good machete will also take your finger clean off without you even knowing it at first, so honestly, I think its about the worst method possible, its awesome, works great, but you screw up once, and your toast...

---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Oh, mirror in the sky
What is love?
Can the child within my heart rise above?
Can I sail through the changing ocean tides?
Can I handle the seasons of my life?

Sure, the scenario I imagine is a person without knife skills picks up a machete, takes a full swing, gets it caught on the chandelier, and drops it.

My friend dave had to have his finger surgically re-attached, still a bit numb to this day, nerve damage... works fine though... he was an idiot,LOL...

---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Oh, mirror in the sky
What is love?
Can the child within my heart rise above?
Can I sail through the changing ocean tides?
Can I handle the seasons of my life?

Coco/Curator,

A classmate almost had his leg amputed by a rope cut while waterskiing, probably someone getting careless.

Here's some full and half machetes --


[search.aol.com]

nice lil collection, metal looks allot thinner than the good ones ive seen though, from what I can tell at least, I could be wrong, my friend daves was as thick as a good cleaver, looked hand made too, it was pretty awesome...

---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Oh, mirror in the sky
What is love?
Can the child within my heart rise above?
Can I sail through the changing ocean tides?
Can I handle the seasons of my life?

That must have been satisfying to make.

I've posted this video before but it shows a man using a full machete to open a green coconut. He has dead aim here and keeps his fingers and toes well out of the path of the blade --

[www.youtube.com]

This is also how Fred Bisci did it, at least the chop part.

yeah, the experts are great at this stuff... still scares the crap out of me every time I see somebody use a machete though, I prefer the drill and or knife methods, flashbacks to my friends finger,lol... one second its sitting there, next its not, was disturbing,lol.

---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Oh, mirror in the sky
What is love?
Can the child within my heart rise above?
Can I sail through the changing ocean tides?
Can I handle the seasons of my life?



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 12/13/2010 01:39AM by Curator.

Ok, that's not the knife I was thinking of. Maybe it's a cleaver? Kind of rectangular and heavy. Good pointy edge for jamming into the coco top, then all you do is pry a bit and a whole circle pops right off. It's not that hard to do, not very scary either. I've done it with my regular kitchen knife but totally wrecked the point on that one.

A generation of rawists picked up a meat cleaver just for opening young coconuts like this --

[www.youtube.com]

Like John Kohler said in his video, barbaric.

loeve Wrote:
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> A generation of rawists picked up a meat cleaver
> just for opening young coconuts like this --
>
> [www.youtube.com]
> =related
>
> Like John Kohler said in his video, barbaric.

Wow, that guy opens his much easier than my method, which is like John's...I have to saw away at the husk & remove it to expose the round top & then hammer the point of the knife into it & pry up on it.

I may have to pick up a meat cleaver after seeing how effortless it was in this video. I am careful/intelligent enough to use it without losing fingers...

Wow, if I still used green coconuts, I'd for sure drag my mom's old Chinese cleaver out of storage and use that! Thanks for posting, loeve!