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Can someone point me to a good source for processing fresh coconuts? I did
- Thread starter marilynfl
- Start date
I made Alton Brown's coconut cake recipe 2 weeks ago (awesome) and he had instructions
My coconuts came with a prescored line around the center to aid in breaking it apart.... I wish I had followed Alton's instructions...
And the cake (though a little laborious was delicious!)
Cook's Note: To open a coconut: Preheat the oven to 375 degrees F. Place the coconut onto a folded towel set down in a large bowl. Find the 3 eyes on 1 end of the coconut and using a nail or screwdriver and hammer or meat mallet, hammer holes into 2 of the eyes. Turn the coconut upside down over a container and drain the water from the coconut. Store the water in an airtight container in the refrigerator for up to a week. Place the coconut onto a 1/2 sheet pan and bake in the oven for 15 minutes. Remove from the oven. The coconut should have cracked in several places. Using an oyster knife or other dull blade, separate the hard shell from the brown husk. Using a serrated vegetable peeler, peel the brown husk from the coconut meat. Rinse the coconut meat under cool water and pat dry. Break the meat into 2 to 3-inch pieces. With the grater disk attached to a food processor, grate the coconut.
http://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/alton-brown/coconut-cake-with-7-minute-frosting-recipe.html
My coconuts came with a prescored line around the center to aid in breaking it apart.... I wish I had followed Alton's instructions...
And the cake (though a little laborious was delicious!)
Cook's Note: To open a coconut: Preheat the oven to 375 degrees F. Place the coconut onto a folded towel set down in a large bowl. Find the 3 eyes on 1 end of the coconut and using a nail or screwdriver and hammer or meat mallet, hammer holes into 2 of the eyes. Turn the coconut upside down over a container and drain the water from the coconut. Store the water in an airtight container in the refrigerator for up to a week. Place the coconut onto a 1/2 sheet pan and bake in the oven for 15 minutes. Remove from the oven. The coconut should have cracked in several places. Using an oyster knife or other dull blade, separate the hard shell from the brown husk. Using a serrated vegetable peeler, peel the brown husk from the coconut meat. Rinse the coconut meat under cool water and pat dry. Break the meat into 2 to 3-inch pieces. With the grater disk attached to a food processor, grate the coconut.
http://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/alton-brown/coconut-cake-with-7-minute-frosting-recipe.html
Marilyn, our Local Trader Joe's was selling WHOLE coconut meats. . .
WHOLE coconut meats: the meat of a coconut, still in ball shape, all the brown skin off, wrapped in some sort of paper/plastic. This was about two months ago. Saw them twice, meant to buy one, have not seen them since.
I have never seen a whole coconut with out the husk and skin. Very interesting; I wonder how they did it? So I searched and found the video below. Simple, easy and you get whole milk with frozen coconut liquid inside. I am going to try this and will let the cleaned coconut meat and juice defrost in the fridge in a heavy zip-lock bag.
WHOLE coconut meats: the meat of a coconut, still in ball shape, all the brown skin off, wrapped in some sort of paper/plastic. This was about two months ago. Saw them twice, meant to buy one, have not seen them since.
I have never seen a whole coconut with out the husk and skin. Very interesting; I wonder how they did it? So I searched and found the video below. Simple, easy and you get whole milk with frozen coconut liquid inside. I am going to try this and will let the cleaned coconut meat and juice defrost in the fridge in a heavy zip-lock bag.
Okay....the small coconut went into the freezer because I love that the dark brown inner skin came
right off with it.
I think I'm going with the baked version on the other since the one time i did it, I just took a damn hammer to the thing and bludgeoned it to pieces. Shards of coconut bark were flying around like shrapnel.
I'll probably test them both this weekend.
Thanks for all your help!
right off with it.
I think I'm going with the baked version on the other since the one time i did it, I just took a damn hammer to the thing and bludgeoned it to pieces. Shards of coconut bark were flying around like shrapnel.
I'll probably test them both this weekend.
Thanks for all your help!
Oh no...experiment has just started. I popped the small coconut in the freezer Wednesday night
I'll be trying them out this weekend. I don't think you bake the frozen version: just take it out and whack with a hard object.
That way I'll have two versions to taste: one frozen, then cleaned and one baked then cleaned. I'm interested in trying Dahlia Bakery's Triple Coconut Pie, a noted favorite of theirs.
I'll be trying them out this weekend. I don't think you bake the frozen version: just take it out and whack with a hard object.
That way I'll have two versions to taste: one frozen, then cleaned and one baked then cleaned. I'm interested in trying Dahlia Bakery's Triple Coconut Pie, a noted favorite of theirs.
Cracking Coconuts: The results.
Frozen Coconut;
I took out the one frozen since Wednesday night, put it on the cement floor and gave it a slight whack with a 3 pound metal mallet.
Nothing.
I gave it another tentative whack, with a little more emotion behind it this time and...
Nothing.
That's when I hauled off with a good smackaroonie and it went ricocheting off the storage rack.
And yet...nothing. No cracks. No shattering of shell.
I'm not sure what Trader Joe's did to theirs, but whatever it was, I wasn't doing it to mine. I finally got a small fissure and set to work prying off the hard outer shell with flat head screwdriver and hammer. The coconut water was frozen and had to be scraped out because it was slowing thawing and dripping as I manipulated the coconut. NONE of the dark outer skin came off the hard shell, which mean I had to peel each individual chunk of coconut.
Verdict: Pain in the rear.
Version 2: Baked in oven.
Drained the liquid out first by puncturing 3 holes in the eyes. This one also had a thin score around the equator of its shell. Preheated oven to 375 and baked 15 minutes.
Nothing.
Baked another 5 minutes and got one fissure (not on the pre-scored line, either.)
Baked another 5 minutes and ended up with several fissures. Used a screwdriver to pry the hard shell away and a LOT of the dark skin came off with it (at least 60%). Meat was all in one football shaped piece, which made it very easy to peel the remaining dark skin off with a serrated peeler.
Verdict: I'd do this method again.
Taste Test: No difference.
Frozen Coconut;
I took out the one frozen since Wednesday night, put it on the cement floor and gave it a slight whack with a 3 pound metal mallet.
Nothing.
I gave it another tentative whack, with a little more emotion behind it this time and...
Nothing.
That's when I hauled off with a good smackaroonie and it went ricocheting off the storage rack.
And yet...nothing. No cracks. No shattering of shell.
I'm not sure what Trader Joe's did to theirs, but whatever it was, I wasn't doing it to mine. I finally got a small fissure and set to work prying off the hard outer shell with flat head screwdriver and hammer. The coconut water was frozen and had to be scraped out because it was slowing thawing and dripping as I manipulated the coconut. NONE of the dark outer skin came off the hard shell, which mean I had to peel each individual chunk of coconut.
Verdict: Pain in the rear.
Version 2: Baked in oven.
Drained the liquid out first by puncturing 3 holes in the eyes. This one also had a thin score around the equator of its shell. Preheated oven to 375 and baked 15 minutes.
Nothing.
Baked another 5 minutes and got one fissure (not on the pre-scored line, either.)
Baked another 5 minutes and ended up with several fissures. Used a screwdriver to pry the hard shell away and a LOT of the dark skin came off with it (at least 60%). Meat was all in one football shaped piece, which made it very easy to peel the remaining dark skin off with a serrated peeler.
Verdict: I'd do this method again.
Taste Test: No difference.