Coconut. We all love it. (Well, most of us. Shout out to healthy fats!!) Flakes, butter, oil, you name it, if it has coconut in it, I am intrigued.
Well, a week or so ago I saw some “easy break” coconuts at the grocery store. And I had an awesome idea. (OK, it was an awesome idea at the time. In hindsight, I wish I had never had it.) Why couldn’t I shred my own coconut? It couldn’t be that hard, could it? Besides, these were easy break coconuts. They had easy in the title.
You guys. There was nothing easy about these coconuts. To say it was a disaster would be an understatement.
I had to use a numerous amount of tools to get them open. An ice pick. Hammer. Serrated knife. Butter knife. Paring knife. Lots of knives. The handle ended up breaking off of the ice pick. (Who even has ice picks these days?)
I eventually had to enlist my mom’s help. We had to use a screwdriver to get the ice pick out.
Finally, we got the first one open. Getting the meat out was another story. We tried lots of different methods.
There was lots of scraping.
My mom and I watched a couple videos on youtube. She concluded that we needed to bang the shell in order to ‘loosen’ the meat. Needless to say, that didn’t work.
There was lots of cutting, scraping, and swearing. I think I almost cut off my finger about 8 times. I didn’t get a lot of meat.
Once I got most of the meat out of the first coconut, I was exhausted. So, with the next two, I went outside and decided to let out some of my anger,
And smashed them on my driveway. I think I may have scared the neighbor kids off. Which is good. I don’t know how many times I pull in my driveway and almost run over one of them because they’re playing or riding their bikes in my yard. (Who does that?)
Getting the meat out of the next two was a little easier, 
But still tough.
Eventually, I decided I had enough, and just tossed what was left. In the end, I ended up with about two and a half cups.
Victory!
Later that day, I was telling my best friend about my ordeal, and she mentioned that Alton Brown had a really good video online that showed you how to de-coconut a coconut easily. I was skeptical, as I had watched a bunch of youtube videos. Yeah, I wish I had seen that before I went through all that trouble. His way is much, much easier. I almost want to buy another coconut and see if it really works.
Here’s the link if anyone wants to check it out. The part where he breaks open the coconut starts at 4:37 minutes in.
Also, I would like to dedicate this post to all the kitchen equipment I broke during this experiment. A knife, the ice pick, and a bowl. (I know, who breaks a bowl? It was plastic, too.)
Have you ever tried to get the meat out of a coconut? Do you have any tips and tricks, or was it as difficult for you as it was for me?
Hahaha Just bang it into the wall, it will break on its own. That’s what we do here in the tropics!
loveeeee coconuts!!! such an adventure! thanks so much for your sweet birthday wishes! Xo!
This takes me back to when I was about 10. My dad bought a fresh coconut, which we were going to crack open ourselves. He was determined to save the coconut water, and after much labour, ended up taking a power drill to it
I love fresh coconuts! I open them with a hammer. First I take a nail and hammer it into each “eye” of the coconut and wiggle it around to make wider holes. Then I will drink the juice from the holes or let them drain into a measuring cup. Then, I hit the coconut around the middle with the hammer. Sometimes, if I’m lucky, it will break into two halves. To get the coconut meat out of the shell, place it all on a cookie sheet and stick it in a hot oven (350 degrees) for a 10 – 25 minutes. The meat will pull away from the shell.
I made coconut milk one time. It was a lot of work. I’ll stick with the canned stuff.
Fresh coconut is super delicious though!
Also, I think you forgot to post the link!
I literally just read about how to prepare coconut yesterday and I thought to myself, “ok this sounds impossible, I am never doing that.” Glad to see it’s actually possible!
haha yes, it is possible, difficult, but possible!
Ahahaa! I’m sure the coconut meat is going to taste all that much more sweeter, just because you worked so hard for it.
I remember my dad buying my siblings and I coconuts one summer — he went straight for the power drill to get the liquid out, then let us throw the coconuts onto the driveway from the roof to bust them open for the meat. Ain’t nothin’ “easy” about opening a coconut!
Haha! I love this!!! I love coconut, but I’ve never tried to open one :O and after seeing that , I don’t think I ever will, unless I get my boyfriend to do it for comic relief
I LOVE fresh coconut, breaking them is always the best part (and eating them of course!)! NOM!
I just throw mine at the nearest floor! I tried it recently and most of it ended up in the garden. Your methods are much more precise! Well worth the effort though. Have fine times, lee