Learn what to do with a coconut! How to open it, collect coconut water, release the meat and turn it into shredded coconut, coconut butter, coconut milk, and coconut flour.
Find the 3 eyes of the coconut. One of the eyes looks a little different from the other 2 - this one is easiest to open, but you can open the coconut from any eye.
Insert a screwdriver or sharp knife into the eye. If needed, use the help of a hammer or mallet to break the screwdriver through the coconut shell to fully open the eye
Invert the coconut over a glass and let the coconut water drip out. If needed, strain the coconut water through a sieve or cheesecloth to remove any coconut fibers or pieces of shell that may have fallen into the coconut water.
Enjoy the coconut water with ice as is or use in smoothies or for cooking.
How to open a coconut
Preheat your oven to 400°F. Place the drained coconut into the preheated oven for about 10 minutes or until the shell develops cracks along the outside.
Cover the cracked coconut with a kitchen towel. Using a hammer or mallet hit the coconut along the crack until it breaks in half.
How to Remove the Coconut Meat
Rewrap one half of the coconut, and continue hitting it until it breaks into a few more pieces.
Often the coconut shell pieces will remove from the meat in the process. Any remaining pieces of coconut meat can be loosened from the shell by inserting a butter knife between shell and meat.
The brown skin on the meat is edible and can be left on. But if you want to make pure white shredded coconut and coconut milk, use a vegetable peeler to remove that brown skin.
How to Make Shredded Coconut
Use a box grater to grate the coconut meat pieces into shredded coconut.
I like to use the smallest side for regular shredded coconut. You can use the other sides for coarser shreds or coconut chips.
Spread the shredded coconut on a baking sheet and place it in the oven on the lowest heat setting with the oven door cracked open.
You only want to dry/dehydrate the shredded coconut, not toast it (unless toasted coconut is what you are going for). The dried shredded coconut can be stored and used for toppings.
How to make coconut butter
I wrote a detailed post about how to make coconut butter HERE.
Spread the pulp that is left over from making coconut milk onto a baking sheet. Dehydrate/dry in the oven on lowest heat setting with door cracked open.
Grind the dried pulp into a fine coconut flour using a coffee grinder or spice mill.
Keyword What to do with a Coconut
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