How To Prepare Fresh Coconut Recipes

TO CRACK AND SHAVE FRESH COCONUT

Steps:

• Preheat oven to 400°F.
• Pierce softest eye of coconut with a metal skewer or small screwdriver and drain liquid into a bowl to sample (if it tastes sweet, the coconut is fresh; if it tastes oily, the coconut is rancid and should be discarded). Bake coconut in oven 15 minutes.
• Break shell with a hammer or back of a heavy cleaver, then remove flesh with point of a strong knife, levering it out carefully. Remove brown skin with a sharp knife or vegetable peeler.
• Shave edges of coconut meat pieces with a vegetable peeler until you have about 3 1/2 cups shavings.

FRESH ROASTED COCONUT

Steps:

• Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Test each of the three eyes at the stem end of the coconut to find the softest eye. Use an ice pick and a hammer to pierce the eye, then drain the juice into a glass through a fine sieve, and reserve for another use.
• Tap the coconut with a hammer until a palm-size piece of the shell breaks off. Continue tapping around the broken edge of the shell until it begins to break apart. Place the broken shells on a baking sheet. Bake the shells for about 10 minutes to loosen the coconut flesh from the shell.
• Remove the coconut shells from the oven, and allow them to cool to the touch. Pry out the meat with an oyster knife. With a potato peeler, remove any remaining brown skin from meat. Grate the coconut meat, or slice it with a mandoline.
• Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Place grated or sliced coconut on a baking sheet and transfer to oven. Bake until lightly toasted. Let cool before using.

FRESH SHREDDED COCONUT

Steps:

• Preheat oven to 400°F
• Use a metal skewer or ice pick to pierce two of the soft spots at the top, where the "eyes" are.
• Drain the liquid and save to use in other recipes.
• Place the coconut on a cookie sheet and bake for 15 minutes. Remove from oven and let it cool until it can be handled (about 5 minutes).
• If it is not already cracked open, place the coconut on a hard surface and tap with a hammer until the shell breaks.
• Remove the white flesh with a spoon or table knife. Peel off the thin, brown inner skin with a vegetable peeler.
• Grate the coconut pieces on the fine side of a manual grater or cut into coarse pieces and grind in a food processor.
• Use the grated coconut to make coconut milk, as a garnish for fruit salad or ice cream, or in other recipes.
• Keep refrigerated.

HOW TO PREPARE FRESH COCONUT

Steps:

• To open a fresh coconut, place it on a rack or in a bowl in the sink. Tap it repeatedly with the back of a cleaver all the way around the middle of the coconut. Rotate the coconut as you tap: soon a crack will appear, then the coconut will break in half. Save the coconut water that falls into the bowl it's great for drinking or cooking rice. Now, wrap the coconut halves in a kitchen towel and break into pieces with a hammer. Using a paring knife, pry the meat from the shell. (If it's hard to get out, bake the pieces in a 400°F oven for 10 minutes.) Trim the brown skin off the meat. Grate the coconut on a hand grater or in the food processor, using the grating blade.If you're not going to use all the coconut, place it (either in chunks or grated) in a plastic bag and refrigerate up to 2 days. To keep fresh longer, wrap the prepared coconut in plastic and then in aluminum foil, and freeze for up to 2 months. The average coconut when grated yields about 5 cups.

HOW TO PREPARE FRESH COCONUT

Steps:

• Use a nail to punch holes in 2 of the 3 indentations at the end of the coconut.
• Drain off the coconut milk and use it like milk in cooking or to cover grated coconut for freezing.
• Heat the coconut in 350° oven for about 15 minutes ; then crack with a hammer , pry out chunks of the coconut meat ; peel off the brown skin.
• Grate , shred or grind the coconut chunks.
• To dry the coconut , mix it with a little bit of sugar and vanilla , then spread on waxed paper on a cookie sheet. Set in warm place to dry ; stirring occasionally.

TO CRACK AND GRATE FRESH COCONUT

Steps:

• Preheat oven to 400°F.
• Pierce softest eye of coconut with a metal skewer or screwdriver and drain liquid into a bowl to sample (see note, above). Bake coconut in oven 15 minutes.
• With a hammer or back of a heavy cleaver break shell and with point of a strong knife remove flesh, levering it out carefully. Remove brown membrane with a sharp paring knife or vegetable peeler. Fresh coconut keeps, chilled, in an airtight container 1 week.
• Grate coconut as needed on small teardrop-shaped holes of a 4-sided grater or finely chop in a food processor. Freshly grated coconut keeps, frozen, in an airtight container 3 months.