Coconuts

[karadekoolaid Profile]

Right - when I was a kid, the only coconut we ever got to eat was (a) a Bounty bar (b) Desecrated coconut (c) fresh coconut if I managed to knock one out of its perch at the Coconut Shy in the Village Fair.

For those of you who have not seen or tasted a fresh coconut, they´re huge - and green. The brown coconut is a result of hacking off the outer green skin & fibre.
When they´re fresh off the palm, you can attack them with a machete, remove just enough from the top to open up the coconut and enjoy about 1 lt of fresh coconut water. Extremely good on its own; delicious with a drop of rum, but even better, with scotch whisky. There´s very little meat in a fresh coconut.
Then there´s a second stage, where the meat is there, but it´s soft and gelatinous. Coconuts like this are great for making (a) coconut cream and (b) cocadas - basically a coconut smoothie with ice and sugar.
Once the green outer coating begins to go brown, then all the fibre is cut away and you get a " Coconut Shy" fruit. The shell is rock hard, the layer of "meat" inside is about 1-11/2 cms thick. Shake them before buying (although this doesn´t guarantee everything) to make sure there´s liquid inside. On the top of the coconut, you´ll see three "eyes". One of them can easily be pierced with a sharp, heavy knife, a nail, or even a corkscrew. The other two are much more difficult and you need to be very careful so as not to stab yourself with the knife! Mostly, you can pour out the coconut water through one hole, as long as it´s big enough. Strain the water through a tea strainer just to eliminate any bits of fibre, and then taste it. Sometimes, the water ferments and tastes awful.
To remove the outer shell easily: once the water is out, heat the oven to 450°F. put the whole coconuts on a baking sheet and bake for about 20-25 minutes, until you can see the shells are cracked.- Remove them and let them cool. Then crack the shells open with a hammer, or a heavy pan, or a rock, and prise out the coconut "meat" with a heavy knife. It should come out easily. If you want "grated" coconut, just blitz it in a food processor for a minute or two; then you can bag it and keep it in the freezer.

[Stokey Sue Profile]

Thanks karadekoolaid
Having said you can't buy coconut here, I really meant brown coconuts, which actually seem to have got more difficult to find over the years

You can buy trimmed green coconuts in Asian shops, markets, and street food festivals or markets

These things, usually shrink wrapped (which I think is how they are imported), sometimes not

watercoco.jpg (8.71 KiB) Viewed 4551 times

I tend to ignore them, as I find coconut water really unpleasant - not a fan of octanoic acid

The frozen grated, shredded, or diced coconut meat mentioned on another thread is widely availabe, around £2 or slightly more for a 400g pack

[Earthmaiden Profile]

That's very useful KK. I was hoping you'd have a magic way of opening a 'coconut shy' type of coconut so that one of the implements shown on the other thread could be used on it! Heating in the oven may help. My father used to cut them in half with a hacksaw once the water had been extracted. My hacksaw doesn't manage it.

I too have seen the trimmed ones and green ones just served with a straw - I love coconut water served like that. I don't think I've seen either of those locally.

[Stokey Sue Profile]

Here's the comedian Sindhu Vee showing us how to open a coconut using no tools or gadgets, just the floor of Elstree studios

I've seen her do this a few times in different contexts, she's impressively casual

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sDT1BYRwtKA

[ZeroCook Profile]

Good post KDKA - how to coconut! I knew a fair bit about them (plus a stint in the tropics v. young growing up) but never knew how to get the flesh out without a huge production - great oven tip. Ive always wondered about the eyes. My MO has been to hammer a big nail through one and always wondered why the other two were impenetrable?

Good tip about frozen grated fresh coconut Stokey - thanks.

[Pampy Profile]

Our local Tesco sells green coconuts as well as the brown furry stage.

[karadekoolaid Profile]

Here's the comedian Sindhu Vee showing us how to open a coconut

That was brilliant, Sue! Plus she had me in fits with the granny!!

[karadekoolaid Profile]

I often buy the "brown" coconuts, simply because I´m not close enough to the beach to get the ones with the fantastic coconut cream.
I open a hole in the weakest eye with a boning knife, then excavate another hole ( with aforementioned boning knife) in one of the other eyes. I don´t know when or why I bought a boning knife, because I never, ever de-bone anything, but there you are: I´ve got one. The advantage is that it has a thick blade, unlikely to snap when grinding into a coconut shell. You could happily use a big nail or a screwdriver. The important thing is to open a hole big enough to let the "water" out.
How good to know you can buy "watercocos" in Asian stores. They´re good for the first type of coconut I mentioned ( get the whisky out) but probably have little or no "meat" inside them.

[jeral Profile]

I've seen the green ones in a local east Med shop, which at the time came under "I'd buy one if I knew what to do with it". I'm glad to read your info about them

I buy coconut oil for cooking, though use scantly as it's not exactly cheap. However, I've never tried baking with it. Found this fairly short article from Spruce Eats who I reckon are good, giving valuable baking information:
https://www.thespruceeats.com/can-cocon ... ter-995440

[northleedsbhoy Profile]

I had fresh coconut milk in the way KK described when I was on holiday in Isla de Marguerite way back in the early 90’s. it truly was delicious and I would’ve loved to try it with rum.

Cheers
NLB

[karadekoolaid Profile]

You were here on Margarita Island? Good chance I was there at the same time; we used to go 4-5 times a year!
Coconut water is nothing like the milk, is it? A normal (fresh) coconut might have as much a a litre of water, but no meat.
Did you try the "cocada", NLB?

[northleedsbhoy Profile]

You were here on Margarita Island? Good chance I was there at the same time; we used to go 4-5 times a year!
Coconut water is nothing like the milk, is it? A normal (fresh) coconut might have as much a a litre of water, but no meat.
Did you try the "cocada", NLB?

No, didn’t try that. I don’t know why I said milk in my post as I meant coconut water. The guy had loads on the stall and chopped the top off with a machete. Another place we went to freshly squeezed orange juice on demand. We stayed at the Hilton, one of the best holidays I’ve ever had.

Cheers
NLB

[PatsyMFagan Profile]

Last time I went to the Notting Hill Carnival I had one of the green coconut with the top hacked off and a generous portion of Bacardi poured in. Then when I stopped over in Singapore on my way back from 3 months in Oz, I was pleased to see them for sale again.. this time without the Bacardi though

[karadekoolaid Profile]

this time without the Bacardi though

Damn!

[PatsyMFagan Profile]

this time without the Bacardi though

Damn!

Well this was in the local food hall . ... I also had a chicken biriani (sp?) there too, served on a banana leaf and no knife and fork

[karadekoolaid Profile]

Finger food,Patsy.

[Stokey Sue Profile]

We had food served like that in India you push a bit towards your thumb with your ring finger and pick up a neat little ball of food using thumb and first finger or first 2 fingers

Well, that the theory, not so much when I do it but it does seem to take children a while to get the hang of it so I can’t be expected to get the hang of it in 10 days

[PatsyMFagan Profile]

We had food served like that in India you push a bit towards your thumb with your ring finger and pick up a neat little ball of food using thumb and first finger or first 2 fingers

Well, that the theory, not so much when I do it but it does seem to take children a while to get the hang of it so I can’t be expected to get the hang of it in 10 days

Even harder when you are left-handed ... I am aware that the left hand is 'unclean'

[scullion Profile]

isn't that where 'cack handed' comes from‽‽

[Stokey Sue Profile]

It’s apparently a European myth that in Arab and Asian countries you don’t use your left hand for eating, because you use it in the bathroom

You don’t use your left hand because you have to handle serving spoons and pass plates with a hand that’s not smeared with food

You always wash and dry both hands before eating

I think they are more prescriptive about sticking to using the right hand than we are these days