As I have mentioned before, I live in a small city in Central Nebraska with a population of about 5,500. We have two grocery stores. If you want anything foreign or exotic, the closest you can get are Mexican-American foods, Chinese-American foods, and three Swedish items: lingonberry jam, pickled herring, and Bondost cheese.When I spotted the young coconuts in the produce section of one of the stores, I stopped in my tracks. I heard of them a few years ago when I first learned about the raw food diet, but I had never seen one. I put one in my cart immediately. I wanted to try it and by doing so, I hoped the store would carry more exotic foods.
I let it sit in my fridge for almost a week and before I ventured to cut into it. I had no idea what I was doing.
I found a site online that told me how to open it. I went through the pictures a few times on my computer before getting started. I chose a knife like the one on the website.
After a little struggle, I managed to cut the top off. That's all. But, I kept trying.
I hacked on it for a while longer. Where was this amazing coconut water I had heard about??
Maybe my knife wasn't sharp enough. I got out my Ulu knife to see if it would work.
More hacking. NO COCONUT WATER! Was it really in there?
I went looking for a hammer in the garage, but I couldn't find one.
I eyeballed the hacksaw and almost grabbed it. Instead, I pulled the serrated bread knife
off of the kitchen wall.
BACK-AND-FORTH-BACK-AND-FORTH...
BACK-AND-FORTH-BACK-AND-FORTH...
I finally cut through it! I almost spilled some of that precious coconut water!
Next, I had to take the top off. I went back to the original knife.
This part was really easy.
I pried the top off and looked inside. There was all that water I was waiting for!
And just like that, it was gone. DELICIOUS! The water tasted like toasted coconut,
not the flaked, sugary kind I buy at the grocery store.
Then, I tried the coconut "meat" I scraped out from the inside with a spoon.
Tasty! It kind of had a chewy, jelly-like texture. It was very moist and yummy!
I'm glad I bought the young coconut and kept struggling until I opened it!
If I see them at the store again, I will definitely pick another one up! Hopefully, opening it will be easier the second try.
Have you ever tried a raw coconut? Was it easy for you to open? Do you have any tricks to opening it? Do you have raw coconut recipes?
