I purchased a coconut for the very first time in my life yesterday after reading a raw food recipe which uses them. The coconut came with the shell already removed. However, I have discovered that it's still as hard as rock and none of my knifes will cut it. It's impenetrable.

What am I supposed to do with this thing to get it open?

Run it over with my car?

Hello Mr.Haney!

I too have purchased a coconut. Mine is still in the shell, and I have a feeling will is going tobe for awhile. Have you considered a chainsaw? LOL Just kidding!!!!

If you have a flathead screwdriver and a hammer...try "chisling" the meat off that way...how about a grater? Just some ideas for you. I am sure someone will have an idea!

Take care and good luck! Keep us posted

Ksee ( One of my Irish Setter's)

Ksee@rawfoods.com

MH,

Is it a Young Coconut or a brown coconut? If it is a young coconut, the outside will be white and spongy. If it is brown, brown.

With a Young Coconut, I cut off the top portion of the white spongy part with a serrated knife. The top is the pointed end of the coconut. Then, you will see the rounded top of the coconut. I then take the coconut and put it on top of a plastic bag on the floor and take my hammer and whack it a few times on the rounded top to crack up the top until some of the top is removable with my fingers. I then take the broken pieces off and hold the coconut upside down over a glass. I cut a hold into the white flesh of the coconut and allow the coconut milk to drain in the glass. There is approximately a large glassful. I then open up the flesh and take a spoon and scoop out the white flesh and eat or use it for the recipe.

I'm not experienced with a brown coconut, sorry. I've heard of people dropped it off a balcony to crack it open or putting it in the oven to heat the outside of the cocount then crack it but I'm not sure that that's what you want.

Good luck.
Therese

ive used a drill to drill a hole in the coconut to get the milk out then i smash the bugger in a plastic ziplock with a sledge hammer

makes ya kinda wonder if nature intended us to eat this thing ..its such a difficult nut lol

i have yet to see young coconuts here in canada none ever at the stores yet .. i think im gonna have to order them somewhere

any links to ordering young coconuts anyone?

It's a young (white) coconut.

This may be my first and last coconut.

Okay, I used my drill and extracted a half wine glass full of juice.

Ho-hum.

i know lol ...hardly seems worth it lol ..cept for the workin gup a sweat part hahahah

cardio

I think I will try to break into my coconut after dinner...I put the chainsaw up for the day...could always get it back out...hmmm,mmm NAW! LOL

I will let know what I have and how I got into it!

Later

Ksee ( One of my Irish Setter's)

Ksee@rawfoods.com

hey guys wow you sound like me haha it is easier then that i swear haha..i have sometimes like 75% of the time been able to poke a hole right in the top of cocounut known as the soft spot haha...but it cracks easier with a knife...but the best way is to use a cleaver knife place coconut on side..whack it..then turn it and continue till you whack it all the way around and the top should lift easier off...hmm there are some sites on coconut opening too haha..hmm only half a glass...thats unusual..usually more then that...hmm try again :0

hey jgunn....well in nature it isn't too hard to open them really..whaking them on rocks is easier actually haha...i found that running the car over them probably won't work they are strong lol...

i can't belive y'all got the drill to work ...hmm i couldnt' lol...good job guys!!!!
some big buffs we got here

love earthangel
xoxoxoxoxxo

Much peace and love!!!
EarthAngel
Xoxo

A Brazilian friend with lots of coconut-opening experience does it like this: (though he told me NOT do it)
Hold the young coconut in the air with one hand and swing a meat cleaver at the pointed end with the other.

He can do it all - drain the aquadecoco, then open the top right up and make a coconut shell scoop with which to scrape the inside- in a couple of minutes and with quite a bit of charm and flourish.


But this is how I do it:

Put a cutting board on the floor, lay coconut on its side, use meat cleaver to slice through the top of it, hopefully just opening it enough to let the coco water drain out. I put a large pyrex measuring cup close by or I else I often lose some coco water.
Drain water,then slice a larger piece off the top of the coconut then use a long-handled sundae spoon to scoop out the flesh.
Yummmm.


Every coconut is different. The best ones taste better than any (cooked) gourmet confection I have ever eaten. The worst ones are a little acrid with a scanty coating of amethyst-coloured meat.



I think there are instructions on another method on this site, in fact, I found this site by searching how to open a young coconut.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 05/01/2007 06:37AM by aquadecoco.

Jgunn Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
>
>
> i have yet to see young coconuts here in canada
> none ever at the stores yet .. i think im gonna
> have to order them somewhere
>
>


Capers carries them at all their locations in Vancouver and West Van.

Just for kicks: gave coconut to hubby to open at his shop. He is going to put it in a vice and take a hack saw to it. Will let you know how it worked! Dang thing!

Have a great day all!

Ksee ( One of my Irish Setter's)

Ksee@rawfoods.com

LOVE THIS THREAD!!!

i sit on the floor with a hammer and a screwdriver i keep in the kitchen just for this purpose. i get brown coconuts b/c they're cheap and i know where to find them. and i love the firm meat. i eat it all in three days. yum, fattiness.

my husband laughs so hard at me, i'm like a monkey, cracking, prying. i drain off the fluids first. a hole in one side, then the other, then drink the juice to give me energy to peel and hack at the rest. if the coconut is good and ripe, the shell pulls away pretty easily (re: it shoots across the room with a good tug. i close my eyes for a lot of this procedure) and the meat is so incredible that i forget what a pain it was to get to it.

when i lived in florida, i would just drop the thing from my second floor apt and rush down before the fluids leaked out and drink straight from the coconut. my neighbors found that pretty strange.

peace-

OK...hubby got coconut open. It was accomplished by using a saw-zaw! Needless to say...I do NOT like the "milk".

I guess I will scrape the meat out of the 2 halves. Wish me luck!

Ksee ( One of my Irish Setter's)

Ksee@rawfoods.com

thanks much aquadecoco

...Jodi, the banana eating buddhist

A drill is the best method. Get one at Home Despot for $39.95.

Mr H,
I didn't like coconut milk the first time I tried it, either. I had heard how wonderful it was and I was not impressed. Plus, I almost cut myself trying to get into the thing. (My experience with frozen Durian was even worse.)

However, after losing a lot of blood as part of the raw cleansing, I tried the coconut again and I felt much stronger after drinking the coconut milk (2 Young Coconuts). (Young coconut milk can be used instead of blood in blood transfusions.)

After that, it was a no brainer. The taste will never be spectacular but it can be a life saver, literally.

Great job on the coconut drilling
Therese

life101 Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> The taste will
> never be spectacular but it can be a life saver,
> literally.
>
>

Maybe you have yet to open a really good one....... they are REALLY delicious sometimes. I love opening each one, always hoping it will be one of the ones that taste better than caramel (my former favourite flavour).

hey life 101 haha i had the same experience with the coconut..not my favorite thing...but after being raw for a while tried them again and loved them haha so i guess a little diff..but i had heard everyone raving and couldn't wait to try them haha...INCLUDING durian...so many stories and posts of how great...i went to store and bought some frozen OMG the worse thing in the world haha the smell was tormenting me..i had to run the durian in a bag out into the dumpster in the alley...it was overpowering my apartment i could still smell it i was gaggin haha....
what was yours??
i decided to stick with the basics for a while haha
i stopped going out and looking for exotic things everyone was talking about haha
love earthangel
xoxoxoxoxoxo

Much peace and love!!!
EarthAngel
Xoxo

I have a home made coconut opener that I use so that I can save the halfs of the shell for bowls, cups (decoration). I haven't had a coconut yet this time around. I've been holding off after someone hinted that there was something wrong with them but didn't say what.

Once I've moved I'll try to post pictures of the opener. It does great work and really makes it much easier without destroying the shell. I'll be happy to post a how to on making it or even make some for others but that will have to wait until after I've gotten mine out of storage so I have it for reference .

[rawfoodtrip.blogspot.com]
[jugglingforjoy.com]

hey fud that is awesome!!! i would love to make my own coconut opener to save the shell to make things with!! that is soo cool!! can't wait to hear how to...if it is too hard i might just have one from you ahah...thanks!!
love earthangel
xoxxooxxoxo

Much peace and love!!!
EarthAngel
Xoxo

Fud Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> I have a home made coconut opener that I use so
> that I can save the halfs of the shell for bowls,
> cups (decoration). I haven't had a coconut yet
> this time around. I've been holding off after
> someone hinted that there was something wrong with
> them but didn't say what.
>
> Once I've moved I'll try to post pictures of the
> opener. It does great work and really makes it
> much easier without destroying the shell. I'll be
> happy to post a how to on making it or even make
> some for others but that will have to wait until
> after I've gotten mine out of storage so I have it
> for reference .



Ooooooooooooh please do!!! I've been searching and searching for coconut tools and can't really seem to come across any I know they're out there somewhere!

give us the directions! you've got us eager and waiting.

i painstakingly opened my last one so that i could try and save the shell, but the next day it was cracked at the seems and i almost wept.

and my knuckles were still sore from scraping the flesh from the inside...

bring on the coconut opener- we're ready.

peace-

i never used a drill
but that's not a bad idea

i don't own a drill
but there is a first time for everything

i use a cleaver
and i use it only on the young coconuts

i did buy one of those brown ones, once
first and last time for me too

those things were impossible
those hairy looking things that looked as impenetrable
as the eyes of a sphinx

well, a friend of mine , who had quite a bit of experience
used a screw driver
and a hammer and bonk bonk bonk

and i forget what happened after that
it was such a long time ago

but since then
i only eat the young coconuts

cleave it with a cleaver
drain the juice out

and then scoop out the fleshy white part

then u put the juice and the flesh in a blender
add whatever u want to it

and its a smoothie

young coconuts are good. but expensive, and there is so much meat and juice in the old hairy guys...

i can't just leave them to rot on the shelves...

and i do love the firm meat and the sweet creamy juice.

someone has to love the old guys.
balding
round,
brown from too much sun
and very hard to crack open

and fibrous

so i'll take on the duty.

peace-

Mama Cass Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> young coconuts are good. but expensive, and there
> is so much meat and juice in the old hairy
> guys...
>
> i can't just leave them to rot on the shelves...
>
> and i do love the firm meat and the sweet creamy
> juice.
>
> someone has to love the old guys.
> balding
> round,
> brown from too much sun
> and very hard to crack open
>
> and fibrous
>
> so i'll take on the duty.



I'm a lover of the old guys!!!

yeah!

we can go out and pick up some old guys sometime.

thanks coconutty!

peace-

This video includes a good demo of how to get into a young coconut:

[video.google.com]

Rob

--
Rob Hull - Funky Raw
My blog: [www.rawrob.com]

Normally a litte Trinitrotoluene does the trick.

Psh, I have the dullest knives imaginable. Just be very assertive! Really, just make sure it's stationary and whack the top of it as hard as you can! (That's what I do, and I do it a couple times a day sometimes.)