How to open and peel a coconut at home: tips. How to crack and open a coconut at home

Opening a coconut at home is easy. It is necessary to pour out the milk and crack the shell.

Coconut is considered a fatty nut. Even scientists until recently doubted its benefits - they were sure that it had a detrimental effect on blood vessels, clogging them with cholesterol
But a lot of research has been carried out, and now the whole world knows that coconut successfully fights cholesterol plaques in blood vessels. It is useful due to plant fiber and the content of large amounts of vitamins and microelements
Many people try not to buy coconuts, despite their benefits for the body. All this is due to the fact that it is difficult to open it at home. If you know how to open a nut correctly, then doing it yourself is not at all difficult.

So you bought a coconut from the supermarket, what next?

How to crack a coconut at home

There are several ways to open a coconut at home. The method of opening depends on the purpose (to obtain whole halves of the peel, to preserve the pulp), on physical capabilities and on the available tool.

Choosing the right coconut

It is better to buy nuts where they are sold in large quantities, for example, in supermarkets. A lone piece of fruit in a display case can remain for many months, and the contents can turn sour or moldy.

When choosing a product, you must carefully examine its peel - the color should be uniform without spots. If you find traces of mold, immediately put the product aside; it is dangerous to eat it.

Three circles should be visible on one side of the nut through which the coconut was fed from the palm. The skin in these areas should be intact and elastic. Try pressing on it with your finger; if it gives way, this means that the fruit has begun to deteriorate and is unsuitable for food.

After assessing the appearance, shake the coconut. Splashes of liquid indicate good quality of the product.

Shell thickness and strength

The coconut fruit consists of several layers. The familiar brown shell is hidden under another layer, which is removed to make the coconut easier to transport as the fruit grows. The shell gains strength only when the coconut is fully ripe. Initially, it is a thin layer that separates the edible part from the outer fibrous layer. As the layer grows, it becomes denser and harder and reaches a thickness of 5-7 mm.

The tough shell makes the fruit difficult to open, which often prevents people from buying the delicacy abroad. However, this factor does not negate the exceptional health benefits of coconut pulp and water. You can also do a lot of useful things from this shell.

What will you need to open the nut?

In countries where coconut palms grow, a special device is used. This device is two in one: a corkscrew and a drill. If you're lucky, tourists will buy it. For residents of other regions, home remedies will help you open the fetus:

The knife is a decent size.
An ax for chopping meat.
Awl, screwdriver, nail, drill.
Hammer.
Spoon, bowl for coconut liquid.
Plastic bag or cling film.
Stable support (preferably a wooden cutting board).

On this list, every home has two or three tools.

Heat in the oven

The safest and easiest way to open a coconut at home is to heat it.

The liquid is poured from the coconut, placed in a mold, placed in the oven (175-185 ° C) or in the microwave (maximum power) for 15-20 minutes. If the conditions are met, the shell will burst and the pulp will easily come away from it.

Breaking a nut with your bare hands

It’s hard to imagine a Papuan walking under the palm trees with a group of carpenters. Coconuts have been eaten since time immemorial, which means there are some "primitive" ways to bring the sweet flesh to the world.

The easiest way to open a nut if you have nothing but your hands is to hit it hard on a hard surface. For example, on a concrete wall. The right hook will have the desired effect if you aim: hold the die so that the blow hits the most convex part of the equator of the die. As a rule, a decent hit is enough for a crack to appear. The disadvantage of this method is that if the gap is too small, you cannot simply break the nut into two halves by hand and will have to repeat the maneuver. And if you are strong enough to simply crush a coconut against the wall, you will not be able to enjoy the coconut juice - it will come out.

How to crack a coconut with a knife

After the useful liquid has been drained or drunk, the hard shell can be cut with a knife using one of the methods suggested below.

It's like pricking a coconut, making a dent in the bud hole. The knife must be inserted into the previously made hole to drain the liquid, and the handle must be hit with something heavy, such as a hammer. This will help you split the nut in half, easily open it and remove the pulp.
How to open a coconut by working on the seam where the two halves intersect. Using cutting movements of the knife blade, methodically press down on the seam. As a result, the nut will split into two equal parts. The process is quite long and requires skill and patience.

How to break a coconut at home with a hammer

To break a hard shell with a hammer, you need to place the fruit on a hard, flat surface and hit it with all your might. Then insert a knife or the thin end of a hammer into the gap formed by the impact and open the nut by pressing and turning it in different directions. Before attempting to crack a coconut at home with a hammer, it is recommended that you wrap the nut in a towel. As a result, all the fragments will remain inside, which is very convenient - clean and even safer.

How to cut a coconut with a saw and screwdriver

Opening a coconut with this method only takes 2-4 minutes and the result looks nice and clean. It’s better to take a hacksaw; you can cut a shell that’s hard as stone easier and faster:

The fruit should be placed on a flat surface and sawed until a crack forms along the central seam.
Next you need to use a screwdriver. It is inserted into the resulting hole, pressed to the sides, and the nut is split in half.

Leaning against the wall

One way is to grab the coconut firmly with both hands at each end and lean it against the wall. Find a curb or step and put your full weight on it. So that it breaks into approximately equal halves. If you don't succeed the first time, try to swing well and break harder, the main thing is that you hit the projectile exactly at the equator, where it is very vulnerable. If you are afraid of getting it all dirty and smeared, cover it with some thick cloth before hitting the coconut.

Throw on the floor

Throwing a coconut onto a hard surface is a 100% effective way to crack it. Not surprisingly, the juice is expected to spill all over the floor and the nut itself may get dirty. But it will be a lot of fun! It's best to take care of this first and drain the liquid. You can cover the fruit with a towel or bag in advance.

With a towel

Another common method is to strike several times with the blunt edge of a large knife. To do this, use a towel wrapped around the coconut. It will be safer to hold it in your hands, and this method is the safest, because you won’t drop the nut, splash the juice, or get dirty. It is best to chop ripe fruits in a way that requires little water but a lot of tasty ripe pulp.

No towel

You can take the risk and break the nut without the help of a towel. Although you need to perform this technique very carefully so as not to get it on your fingers. At the same time, hold the coconut over the container, otherwise you will lose all the water. If you hit the same area multiple times, it will start to break. A good way to quickly get to a tasty drink and immediately cut the pulp.

Freshly picked coconut contains most of the sap, but it tastes salty and bears little resemblance to the taste and smell of coconut. Young coconut water is very sweet and pleasant. When ripe, it is much less tasty, but has a characteristic tart, nutty flavor.

Brief instructions:

Prepare your tools
Make holes in the coconut
Drain the coconut water
Find a coconut rib
Start breaking the coconut
Chop coconut meat

Prepare your tools

To open a brown coconut and peel it, you will need:

Screwdriver – any screwdriver will do, both Phillips and flathead;
Hammer – use a heavier hammer to break the coconut easier;
Special Coconut Making Machine (Coconut Grinder) – If you want to make coconut flakes, you can't do without this.

Poke holes in the coconut

Find the 3 small dark indentations at the base of the coconut and poke them with a screwdriver. You can drain the coconut water through these holes. This will avoid any unnecessary mess when cutting the coconut. Make sure you clean the screwdriver thoroughly before drilling. If you don't have the strength to drill holes by hand, try tapping the screwdriver with a hammer.

Drain the coconut water

Pour the coconut water out of the holes into a bowl. You can use it for cocktails or for making desserts. Shake the coconut to make sure all the water is removed.

Find the rib of the coconut

The rib is located between the eye and runs along the entire length of the coconut

Take the coconut so that two holes are on top and one on the bottom (like the eyes and nose). Right between the two “eyes” along the entire fruit there will be a coconut rib (a raised ridge). You need to aim straight for the rib so the coconut will break easily.

Start cracking the coconut

Holding the coconut firmly with one hand, hit the coconut with a hammer. Then twist the coconut and continue beating. If you hit the center of the coconut, split it into two nice halves.

You can also put the coconut in a bag or bag and fluff it randomly, but you'll end up with a bunch of little pieces that need to be separated.

Grind the coconut pulp

Place the coconut grinder on the table and place a small bowl under the grinder. Then place half of the coconut on the attachment and begin to twist firmly. Gradually swirl the coconut until all the flesh comes out.

If you don't have a coconut machine, you can scrape the pulp out with a knife or fork.

How to clean easily?

Most people find that cleaning coconut at home is the most difficult part of preparing fresh coconut. Here are alternative ways to do it. Place the coconut halves on the table, flesh side down. Press down on the entire surface of the shell to loosen the flesh. Or hit the outside with a hammer a few times to loosen the meat from the shell. Don't worry if the shell breaks into smaller pieces. Then insert a small knife between the piece of shell and the pulp and push them away. Repeat this with each piece.

Attentively! Use only a dull knife, such as a butter knife, to avoid cutting your hands and body.

If desired, peel off the top brown crust with a potato peeler. This method is used to make it easier to obtain coconut for cooking, which is usually grated before adding.

Cleaning the tough skin and extracting the pulp

Extraction of pulp will be faster if you take into account the following rule: the more shells, the easier it is to do. Therefore, if you do not use any “life hacks”, the most difficult thing will be to choose copra from those very perfect hemispheres that we talked about above.

Insert a knife blade between the shell and the edible part and separate the piece

The most primitive way to extract the pulp is as follows: insert a knife blade between the shell and the edible part and, waving the knife, separate the piece. Then another one. And then. The main thing is not to run anywhere.

This meditation is not suitable for everyone. Everything will go much faster if you use the following method:

Bake the whole walnut in the oven at 180 degrees for 15 minutes.
Before “cutting” the walnut, lightly tap its entire surface: the pulp will separate from the shell already inside the walnut.
Peel thin meat with brown skin in the same way as potatoes, using a knife or potato peeler.
The cleaner easily separates the coconut husk from the pulp.

Video: how to split a shell into two equal halves

Warnings

Be very careful when trying to cut a coconut at home with a knife! This is quite a dangerous method and is best not used unless you are very strong or have experience cracking coconuts!
When the coconut begins to crack, the crack may open and close again. Therefore, be very careful not to get your fingers pinched!
If you want to heat the coconut so that the flesh can be easily separated later, first make holes in the cube and drain the juice. After all, together with the juice, a walnut can explode when heated!
When breaking a coconut, watch out for your eyes, because pieces may fly off!
Once the coconut is crushed, smell the flesh. If the smell is sour, do not eat the coconut or drink its juice!

How to break a coconut if you don't have the right tools at hand

How can you break a coconut in this case? Yes, by any suitable means at hand. For example, to open a coconut at home without a hammer, you can use a brick or stone brought from the street. In this case, it does not matter how you hit it: with a nut on a stone or vice versa, but it is important to ensure that the main blow falls on the seam connecting the halves of the fruit. Naturally, there is no need to talk about cleanliness and neatness here. Therefore, before breaking the coconut, it is better to wrap the tropical delicacy in a towel.

The next method is much simpler. The nut needs to be thrown onto a hard surface. It could be a concrete wall or floor, or a thick tree trunk. Already from the first throw, a crack will appear in the shell, through which you can drink or drain the milk. The second blow (ideally) will split the nut in half. Naturally, if it is not strong enough or the surface is not too hard, more throws will be needed.

If all else fails, try simply “hitting” the coconut wherever necessary with a hammer, brick or other heavy object. But in this case, it is better to do it on the floor, preferably concrete, and wrap the “nut” in a towel. And don’t expect that you will get two even halves, as in advertising.

Another method requires the presence of some kind of convex solid corner. For example, on the wall of a house, or a brick. The fruit is applied to the corner with a seam and slowly turned, methodically pressing on it with force. This option also requires patience and strength and, of course, has nothing to do with the story of “how to quickly split a coconut,” but as a result, a tough “nut” will split into two even halves.

How to open a green "drinking" coconut?

Green fruits are unripe nuts that have not yet ripened. In terms of the thickness of the peel, they are somewhat reminiscent of a pumpkin, which means that green walnuts can be easily cut with a kitchen knife. Just cut one of the coconut poles as a hat and bon appetit!

Green coconut juice reduces appetite, normalizes digestion, blood glucose levels, thyroid function and metabolism

Coconut water is low in calories, quenches thirst, helps get rid of bladder infections and restores physical strength after intense exercise.

How to drain the liquid correctly?

After a long and tiring day in the sun, it is very pleasant to drink a cool, sweet drink made from coconut water. You may prefer fresh, salty juice over sweet juice, but you should definitely enjoy natural coconut water.

Before opening a coconut, it is best to carefully pour out and store the juice in the refrigerator. If you start cracking the nut right away, pieces of the shell will get into the liquid, which will have to be caught by hand. You can make your own coconut milk from the juice, which involves mixing the pulp with the juice and adding water or milk.

Drain the liquid by making a hole in one of the three dark spots at the base of the nut. You will need a long narrow knife or a clean screwdriver. Check each eye with a knife to find the softest one. Use the knife in the softest one first to cut a 1.5cm hole. If it is difficult, then hit it with a hammer. It’s better to punch all three holes at once, so things will go faster. Turn the coconut over a bowl and drain the juice, you can shake the fruit slightly. It is a source of useful substances for our body. Pour the water out through the punched holes (you can drink it or add it to a fruit smoothie or recipe).

What to do with coconut meat

The white “filling” at home becomes an exotic version of milk or butter.

Milk

The manufacturing process is simple:

The pulp is crushed - with a blender or on a grater.
Dilute the mixture with boiled warm water.
The proportion is chosen arbitrarily (half with water, one third or the other). The less water, the fattier the milk will be.
Beat the mixture with a blender and filter through a sieve or cheesecloth. You can strain immediately (especially in the heat) or leave for 25-30 minutes, then strain.

The result is coconut milk, ready to drink.

When building a house, the proportion with water is important:

If you use milk when preparing dishes, use one part of the mixture to two parts of water.
The oil liquid is diluted to a minimum (no more than 1: 1).
For a drink or smoothie, an arbitrary proportion is selected. The smoothie is prepared in the same way as with regular milk: milk, berries or fruits are whipped with a blender.

It is better to drink milk immediately, before the beneficial properties are lost. Or put it in the refrigerator, freeze it in tins.

Oil

Coconut oil is made at home in two ways:

Refrigerate the chilled coconut milk for a day. After applying the layer, remove the top layer (eg cow's milk cream). Transfer to container.
More complicated way. Grind the pulp and add warm water. When it cools down, put it in the refrigerator for a day. During this time (or faster), a layer of coconut oil is formed, similar in consistency to lard. Remove it by collecting it in a fireproof container. Melt in a fresh water bath until completely liquid. Strain through a colander or cheesecloth to separate the shavings.

Ripe and “old” fruits are good. They provide the most oil plus fatty acids.

The butter can be refrigerated for up to a week.

Shavings

Coconut pulp is stored at home in the form of shavings. It is rubbed and lightly squeezed.

So, choose one of the methods:

The surface is covered with paper without printing ink. Spread the chips in a thin layer and let them dry naturally.
Cover the baking sheet with parchment or craft paper, and scatter the shavings in a thin layer. Place in an oven preheated to 50-60°C with the door closed. In such conditions, the chips dry in one and a half to two days.
A faster way. Drying of chips is carried out in the oven (95-100 ° C) with the door open.

At home, copra (the so-called dried coconut pulp) is stored in paper bags, glass containers or frozen.

Coconut shell

Coconut shell turns into a piece of furniture for the home:

salt shaker;
bowl for a decorative candle;
“Box” for small items that always disappear somewhere;
pots for home flowers;
toy for a child.

A prerequisite is cleanliness. The material is thoroughly cleaned of pulp residues, washed and dried.

Small fragments will be used for drainage of home or garden flowers.

How to cut the pulp?

The white nut pulp near the shell is covered with a thin dark crust, which is edible. The easiest way to cut it is with a knife, vegetable peeler or cheese grater. Use the same caution as when peeling other vegetables. The easiest way to cut elastic, firm flesh is with a sharp knife or grater. Fresh coconut will form when blended in a blender.

You can use it to make coconut milk, yogurt, salad, or add it to many recipes. Besides being a delicious ingredient, coconuts are rich in many important vitamins and minerals, and you can use the extracts for a wide variety of beauty purposes. So don't let their hard shell put you off! The pulp is rich in fiber, magnesium, potassium and phosphorus, as well as folic acid. But the most important value, as mentioned at the beginning, is saturated fatty acids. We hope that our advice will help both women and men, weak or strong.

Storage

Eat walnuts immediately after opening; they don't last long. The endosperm deteriorates especially quickly.

How to store the pulp: wrap in cling film and refrigerate. There it can lie for up to a month.

The coconut that looks like a monkey is worth opening. Imagine what variety will be on your menu and what benefits your body will receive.

I hope my instructions on how to open a coconut will help you. And I will continue to tell you about different healthy nuts.

Cleaning coconut using the microwave

The technique is as similar as possible to the oven method, but there are certain differences. The main thing is the quality of coconut juice removal itself. It is necessary to drain off as much moisture as possible, and it is recommended to shake the nut several times. This will take about 10 minutes.

Even with proper desiccation, coconut can still explode in the microwave. Therefore, you should put the fruit inside for 2 minutes at maximum power, quickly pull it out and look. If there are no large cracks, then leave for another 40 seconds. And so continue until sufficient damage appears on the shell.

Then wrap the fruit in a bag or thin cloth and apply several blows to the table with the exact side where the crack appeared. The crack is easily pryed with a knife, so the nut opens with the help of rocking movements. After this, all that remains is to clean the pulp. The method takes less time compared to the oven, but the special effect of the microwave slightly bakes the pulp, which slightly changes the taste and aroma of fresh coconut.

Precautionary measures

The coconut shell is hard, and it is difficult to open the fruit at home, especially at the beginning, when the skill is not developed. When deciding to crack coconuts at home, follow these rules:

When using a hammer, chisel, or saw, be careful with your fingers.
If you're going to hit the drupe with a hammer until it cracks, wrap the fruit around it. A thick plastic bag or several layers of cling film will do.
Do not try to open the coconut with the sharp side of the knife blade; the tool will slip or break.
When you poke the nut with your eyes, look at the fruit or ask to hold it.
When killing a coconut on the table, place a cloth under it to prevent it from slipping.
Wear safety glasses to protect your eyes.
Take children, especially small ones, out of the room.

Compliance with safety precautions is mandatory: sharp objects are used when cutting coconut. Projectile fragments can hit the face, eyes and injure other parts of the body.

The main condition is not to rush, be attentive, and concentrate. After several procedures the skill will appear.

How to clean easily?

Most people think that peeling coconut at home is the most difficult part of preparing fresh coconut. Here are alternative methods to do this. Place the coconut halves, meat side down, on the counter. Press down on the entire shell area to loosen the pulp. Or hit the outside a few times with a hammer to loosen the flesh from the shell. Don't worry if the shell just breaks into smaller pieces. Then insert a small knife between the piece of shell and the pulp and move them away from each other. Repeat this with each piece.

Carefully! Use only a dull knife, such as a butter knife, to avoid injury to your hand and body.

If desired, scrape off the brown outer skin of the flesh with a vegetable peeler. This method is used to make it easier to obtain coconut for baking, which is usually grated before adding.

Other ways to open a nut

There are many ways to open coconuts, because the nut does not always yield the first time. If the coconut is not very ripe, you will have to try to taste it. First of all, we need a towel. By placing a nut on it, we will avoid sliding on the table or board. The towel can be replaced with cling film or a plastic bag. For opening use:

hammer;
hand saw;
drill with drill bit;
screwdriver;
scissors;
awl;
rolling pin;
big knife

How to open a coconut with a knife

You need to make a hole in one of the so-called eyes. You can drill in any part of the nut, but where the eye is located, the thickness of the shell is thinner. Any sharp object will do: a screwdriver, scissors or a knife.

At the place where the peephole is located, we begin to scrape the shell.
As soon as there is a depression, screw the tip of the knife into the coconut.
We throw away the sawdust from the shell when we make the hole.
Pour the liquid out of the coconut.

How to crack an exotic nut shell with a potato peeler

The shells can be removed using a potato peeler.

Use a knife to cut off the shell towards you. Despite its hardness, it is only slightly more difficult to remove than potato peels.
We go through the knife several times, removing several layers, until we get to the nut.

Using the oven

Another unconventional way to open a coconut, when you don't need to make any effort at all, is to use the oven.

Chop the nut and drain the liquid.
Place coconut on a baking sheet.
Place in the oven and set the temperature to 180 degrees.
Keep in the oven for 20 minutes.
The shell will burst on its own, all that remains is to remove it.

Using a corkscrew and hammer

Make a hole in the coconut by screwing in a corkscrew. We expand it a little with a small knife.
Pour the juice from the coconut into a glass.
Tap the nut with a hammer, applying force. You can knock both circumferentially and lengthwise: from the top of the coconut to the bottom.
The shell is cracking. We peel the coconut from it.

Cracking a coconut with a screwdriver

This is a fairly simple method that will allow you to get a fairly presentable nutshell. A wide flat screwdriver or chisel is required. Even a knife or kitchen ax will do, as long as the product is bend-resistant. An ordinary kitchen knife can simply break, also injuring your hand.

It is necessary to drain the juice by punching a hole in the area of three indentations and placing the fruit in a bowl or glass for 5 minutes to allow the water to drain. You can split directly from the same eye. Drive a screwdriver in there at a slight angle and loosen it, enlarging the hole. Next you need to drill a hole nearby, a crack should form. You can use it to split the entire fruit. If you don't rush, you can achieve almost perfect splitting into two parts.

Another way is to feel the seam in the area with three indentations and drive a screwdriver there, loosening the shell at the place where it grows together. The best option to collect the pulp from such pieces is to place the already split coconut in the microwave for 1 minute. Next, use a knife or a specially sharpened strong dessert spoon to pry out the pulp and turn it out. You can make the task somewhat easier if you use a knife to cut it into smaller pieces down to the shell (this will require much less effort).

Video:

how to make butter, milk and shavings from coconut Expand

The fastest and easiest way to open a coconut - instructions

It doesn't require much effort and is great for opening ripe nuts. We will need:

knife;
coconut;
cup.

Operating procedure:

Place the coconut on a work surface - a cutting board or kitchen table. You can place a towel to prevent the nut from slipping.
You need to cut the coconut on a hard work surface.
We take a large knife, turn it upside down and tap the nut around the circumference with the blunt side.

The coconut needs to be tapped around the circumference with the blunt side of a knife.
When the coconut cracks, pour the juice into a glass and break the nut.

The next step after draining the juice is to open the coconut.

Coconut on our table

Coconut is one of the most exotic nuts to ever capture the hearts of gourmets around the world. It grows on a palm tree and has a fleecy shell, thin peel and aromatic white pulp, which is consumed fresh, frozen and dried. When purchasing, you need to choose a coconut without cracks or chips, since if the nut is cracked, it begins to quickly rot. Coconut is a high-calorie product. Per 100 g of pulp there is:

33.5 g fat;
6.2 g carbohydrates;
3.5 g proteins;
2 g ash;
11.5 g water.

But it’s not just the aroma and taste that attract customers. Coconut is rich in calcium, magnesium, potassium and phosphorus. For the sake of all these qualities, it is worth working in the kitchen, opening the nut.

How is coconut useful?

It is not only its delicate taste that makes it such a popular and desirable product. Coconut, which you will learn how to open in this article, has the following beneficial properties:

Coconut liquid is valued not only for its taste, but also for the fact that it can perfectly quench thirst;
Thanks to the nutritional value of the nut pulp, it helps restore the body’s strength and relieve muscle fatigue;
The vitamins and acids it contains play an important role for the normal functioning of the nervous system and immunity;
The elements that make up the fetus have a positive effect on the cardiovascular and endocrine systems;
Fatty acids and dietary fiber present in it have a beneficial effect on the intestinal microflora;
How to open a coconut correctly, and do it as quickly as possible, will interest women. It contains substances that help slow down the aging process, rejuvenate, and nourish the skin. They also have a beneficial effect on the condition of hair and nails;
The iron contained in the nut stimulates the normal production of red blood cells;
Palm seed has anti-inflammatory effects;
It helps the body get rid of “bad” cholesterol.

Watch this video on YouTube

Cleaning the tough skin and extracting the pulp

Extraction of pulp will go faster if you take into account the following rule: the more shells, the easier it is to do. Therefore, if you do not use any “life hacks”, then the most difficult thing will be to pick copra from those very perfect hemispheres that were discussed above.

Insert the blade of a knife between the shell and the edible part and separate a piece

The most primitive way to extract the pulp is as follows: insert a knife blade between the shell and the edible part, and, shaking the knife, separate a piece. Then another one. And further. The main thing is not to rush anywhere.

This kind of meditation activity is not suitable for everyone. Things will go much faster if you use the following method:

Keep the whole nut in the oven at 180 degrees for 15 minutes.
Before “cutting” the nut, lightly tap its entire surface: the pulp will separate from the shell already inside the nut.
Peel the thin brown skin from the pulp in the same way as potatoes, with a knife or vegetable peeler.
A vegetable peeler easily separates the coconut skin from the pulp.

Where and how long is the product stored?

You can store coconut for some time without losing its taste, but it is worth remembering that the period depends not only on the temperature, but also on how we purchased it in the store. The coconut may arrive on the counter already too ripe or spoiled.

The opened nut can be placed in the refrigerator, but for no more than 48 hours. It must be stored at a temperature of +5 degrees. If it is lower, the nut will lose its unique taste. At temperatures above +5, coconut begins to rot. When we put it in the refrigerator, we need to make sure that there are no foods that contain ethylene, such as apples or bananas, nearby. These fruits are used to speed up the ripening process of others. You should not experiment with the temperature regime by changing the values. This will only speed up the process of deterioration of the nut. Coconut must be kept at a constant temperature.

Coconut flakes are made from the pulp, or copra in other words. It can be stored not in the refrigerator, but in any dark and cool place. The main thing is to avoid direct sunlight on the product. Preparing the shavings is quite simple.

Grate the pulp on a fine grater and place on a baking sheet.
Dry in the oven for 2-3 hours at a temperature not lower than 50 degrees.
The shelf life if stored correctly is 12 months.

It is better to package the shavings in fabric bags or ceramic jars. You should not use plastic packaging; condensation may accumulate in them over time due to temperature changes in the kitchen. As for storing a whole coconut, a refrigerator or any cool place is suitable for this. At a stable temperature of +5 degrees, the nut can be stored for 2–3 months

As with shavings, it is important to avoid direct sunlight

Coconut pulp can be dried in the form of shavings.

Freezing the pulp

Freezing will also preserve the coconut meat perfectly.

Cut the pulp into small pieces.
Place them on a cutting board and put them in the freezer.
When the pieces are frozen, pour them into a bag and put them in the freezer. Then proceed to the next batch.

When frozen, the pulp will keep for 6–8 months. There is also coconut liquid, which many people enjoy using for cosmetic procedures or in cooking. It can also be frozen by pouring it into ice cube trays. It can be stored in the freezer for up to 3 months. Afterwards, the ice will begin to lose its taste properties. When fresh, without freezing, milk is stored in the refrigerator for a week.

Following the tips and proven instructions will help you quickly and easily deal with opening and cutting exotic nuts. You will be able to fully enjoy its taste and aroma not only at the festive table, but also prolong the pleasure for a long time.