How to Pick and Open a Coconut to Get The Benefits of Drinking Coconut Water

"Drinking Coconuts" are immature coconuts whose husk is still green. Green coconuts are best picked from the tree and used in a few days. These young coconuts have sweet, healthy, water. Coconuts that are just about to start turning brown have a fizzy, champagne tasting water. Each coconut variety has a slightly different tasting water. You can become a connoisseur. Coconut water is clear and light. It is not the rich, coconut milk which you find in tropical drinks.
The round, brown, fuzzy, spheres found in most supermarkets are mature coconuts with the husk removed and NOT suitable for drinking. Also not good for drinking are coconuts that have fallen off the tree and whose husk is brown. The water in the brown, ripe, coconuts is "sour".
Read on and you will learn how to select and open a green coconut to drink its sweat, healthy water. It is difficult to open a coconut without tools and practice but well worth it!

Difficulty: Moderately Challenging

Instructions

Things You'll Need:

• Green Coconut
• Machete
• Pruning Saw (optional)
• Papaya stem drinking straw (optional)

1. 
   Older coconuts hanging lower on the tree.

   Select and harvest the coconut. Take a look at the coconut bunches in your tree. Look for a bunch that is almost mature but not yet turning brown. Extremely, young, coconuts will not have water in them. You can guess the age of a coconut by looking at the most mature bunch hanging lowest to the ground and the new ones at the very top of the tree.
   Climb the tree or use a ladder to reach the bunch. There is a variety of low coconut trees, which I recommend planting, that you can stand on the ground to harvest. If you want to take down the whole bunch you will need to use a machete or a pruning saw to cut through the thick branch. If you want only one coconut, you can break its stem by twisting the coconut a few times.

2. Opening the coconut. There are two distinct ends to a coconut. Under the stem end are the three "eyes" of the coconut. The eyes are soft openings into the nut and this is the side into which you want to cut. The nut is encased in its thick, fibrous husk. Using a sharp machete, cut at a 45 degree angle into the husk around the eyes. The shell around the eyes will be soft. Sliced it off making a large hole or pierce two of the eyes with your machete. The water in the nut is under pressure and can squirt you in the eye when you pierce the shell.

3. Drinking the water. If you have a papaya tree growing nearby, make a biodegradable straw from a papaya stem. Otherwise pour the water into a glass, drink it straight from the shell or find a "proper" straw.
   The water has many health benefits among them: quickly re-hydrating your body, cleansing your kidneys and helping to fight off colds.

4. 
   Scooping spoon meat out of the shell that has been broken in half.

   BONUS STEP: Eating the "spoon meat". A drinking coconut usually has soft tasty, gelatin like spoon meat clinging to the interior of the shell. Grab a spoon and scoop it out after drinking the water. In many tropical countries the spoon meat is eaten with chili peppers (Yow).

Tips & Warnings

• Watch out for falling coconuts
• Be careful in high places
• Be mindful when using sharp tools
• Always check with your doctor to make informed decisions regarding your health and natural remedies

Resources

• Health Benefits of Coconut Water
• Seven Benefits of Coconut Water