How to Buy and Open a Coconut

Coconut Preparation

Dec 1, 2007 Melissa Rodriguez

How to buy, crack open, and prepare a coconut for eating.

To most people, coconut means the shredded, processed, sweet shavings found in candy bars and sprinkled on desserts. But, the coconut is used in a host of other products including an important ingredient in tropical dishes: coconut milk.

How to Buy a Coconut

When you think of coconuts, do you think of a hard, brown, shaggy sphere? This is a mature nut. Inside the nut, you’ll find about a half-inch of firm white meat. It can be eaten in its raw state, shredded and toasted, used in main dishes and desserts, or used to prepare coconut milk.

At Hispanic markets, the nuts are also available in their natural states: long green oblongs. Green coconuts are harvested after only six months on the tree. In this form, the inside is soft and jelly-like. You can scoop it out and eat it with a spoon! Both the green and mature nuts have sweetish “water” that can be consumed straight from the inside.

When purchasing coconuts, steer clear of cracked shells, a bitter aroma, or wet eyes (the three spots at one end of the nut). When you shake it, you should hear water sloshing around inside and the nut should feel heavy. A dry coconut is past its prime.

How to Crack Open a Coconut

1. Getting the coconut out of the shell is easy. Here’s how it’s done:
2. Using a screwdriver and hammer, punch a hole in each of the three eyes.
3. Drain the liquid and save it for drinking. Break the nut into a few pieces by tapping it with the hammer. Then perform step 4 or 5 (not both).
4. Bake the pieces in a 400F oven until the meat pulls away from the shell (ten to fifteen minutes).
5. Freeze the coconut pieces for an hour or two and the meat should pull away from the shell.
6. Pry the meat away from the shell and peel away any brown skin left on the meat.

The meat is now ready for nibbling, grating, or shaving. One coconut will yield about a half to one cup of “water” and three to three and a half cups of flesh.

Coconut Milk vs. Coconut Cream

Coconut meat isn’t an end in itself, but a fresh source of coconut milk, which is easy to make, but takes time. Unsweetened, canned coconut milk is a good substitute that works well in most recipes. Also, unsweetened dried coconut flakes can be used to make coconut milk.

Coconut milk is often confused with sweetened coconut cream, condensed and/or evaporated coconut milk. These can not be substituted for coconut milk, but they are used in other types of Caribbean recipes such as tropical drinks and desserts.

The copyright of the article How to Buy and Open a Coconut in Vegetarian Cuisine is owned by Melissa Rodriguez. Permission to republish How to Buy and Open a Coconut in print or online must be granted by the author in writing.

Fresh Coconut