Friday 13 July 2012

Mystery Ingredient #3: Coconut

One of my very favourite hostess gifts looked like this:
For your blog my friend had said when she handed it to me.

I had never opened a coconut before. Frankly, the process kind of intimidated me. But, now that there was a real life coconut sitting in my kitchen, and I was going to figure it out. I started by asking Google.

There are actually a surprising number of 'How to open a coconut' tutorials out there. Apparently, this is a very common problem (either that, or people just like writing about it and creating YouTube videos).  I attempted the 'Tap and rotate' method recommended by wikihow. It sounds really simple and straightforward, but I ended up sticking the coconut in a plastic bag and hitting it with a hammer. Finally, the coconut cracked:


This is the coconut water:

 A lot of the natural food types I've rubbed shoulder with recently have advocated the use of coconut water as a fantastic workout fuel. I just can't get past the taste... If such things as coconut water controversy interest you, I recommend reading pharmacist Scott Gavura's blog post. Like so many controversial topics, the comments are as interesting as the post.

Anyhow, back to the coconut odyssey.
After finally getting the coconut to crack open, you need to pry the white flesh out. Youtube videos will make this look easy peasy. It wasn't (hence all those small pieces in the bowl).

The brown coating on the fleshy pieces needs to be removed. I used my dollar store carrot peeler. I'm sure there is a more efficient way of getting the job done.

Next, the (all white) pieces need to be grated. I'm lazy, so I used my food processor.


Finally, I decided to toast the coconut in a pan.


When I started the project, I had all kinds of great ideas for what I was going to do with my sugar-free, preservative-free fresh coconut. By the time I actually had the coconut in hand, I was pooped.
So, I tossed it into the blender with some frozen strawberries and a touch of agave to make something along the lines of faux ice cream. It was delicious.





Anyone else have any experience with opening coconuts? Any words of wisdom to offer? What are your favourite coconut recipes?

2 comments:

  1. No coconut comments, but I made kale chips last night! Delicious! - Tara

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  2. Looks tasty, I have so much coconut flakes so I guess I'll try something like this. I've read familiar recipe at essay writers service but it was with condensed milk and it was fantastically tasty

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