How to Get Pure Coconut Water, Buy Fresh Coconuts and Open Coconuts

A hammer and large nail or screwdriver will allow you to extract coconut water.

To get fresh coconut water as well as coconut milk, you first must pick the right coconut. Nothing beats the taste of fresh coconut cake, coconut shrimp or ambrosia made with fresh coconut milk or meat. Once you learn how to open a coconut, you'll never need to buy coconut water or fresh coconut milk again. Fresh coconut is high in fiber, magnesium, phosphorus and potassium.

Things You'll Need

• Hammer
• Large towel
• Large nail
• Screwdriver
• 1/2-inch chisel
• Kitchen knife
• Vegetable peeler
• Blender
• Cloth

Instructions

1. Pick the best fresh coconut to get good coconut water, coconut milk and coconut meat. Shake the nut and listen for the liquid coconut water inside. You want a coconut that makes a good sloshing sound -- that is, one with lots of liquid. While this does not guarantee that the coconut is good inside, it does increase the chances. Weigh several coconuts of the same size and pick the heaviest one, since this is the one that has spent the least time drying out. Asian food markets and grocers can be a good source of coconut products.

2. Pierce the coconut eyes to drain the coconut water. Find the three "eyes" -- dark, round indented areas -- on the coconut. Take a bath towel and arrange it in a spiral-like a turban on a hard surface, such as a chopping block. Set the coconut upright in the center of the towel so it won't fall over, with the three eyes looking upward. Use the hammer to drive the large nail or screwdriver, which should be clean, into each of the eyes. Then hold the coconut over a bowl and allow the coconut water to drain out. Smell and taste the water to see if the coconut is good. If it smells or tastes of mold, throw the nut away or take it back to the store for a refund.

3. Crack the shell and break the fresh coconut into pieces. Wrap the emptied coconut in the towel in a double layer. Take it to a concrete surface such as some steps or a garage floor. Use the hammer to strike the wrapped up coconut several times, sharply to break it into several large pieces. Another method is to place the drained coconut in a double or triple layer of plastic bags and swing it against a hard surface such as a tree or brick wall to break it up. If it is necessary to break the coconut in half for some reason, use a hammer and heavy chisel to start a crack on one side. Tap on the coconut all the way around to get the crack to open up and then pry the two halves apart.

4. Remove and clean the coconut meat. Some of the coconut meat will already be free from the shell. Where the shell is stuck to the meat, take a butter knife and pry it from the shell. Or you can place the coconut pieces in a 350-degree oven for 20 minutes to make the meat easier to remove from the shell. Be careful when trying to pry it off with a knife. A chisel can be used to pry the meat loose from the shell. There may be some of the dark skin attached to the coconut meat. It is OK to eat, but if you want pure, white coconut meat, cut it off using a vegetable peeler. Cut any overly large pieces of coconut meat into smaller sections.

5. Place the chunks of coconut meat in a blender or food processor and process till they are finely shredded. Add room-temperature water to the blender to just cover the coconut and blend everything together well. Prepare a bowl to strain the coconut milk mixture into. Line a large bowl with a piece of cloth that is tightly woven, such as a handkerchief or a piece of sheeting. The cloth needs to be large enough to overhang the bowl by several inches. Pour the blended coconut milk mixture into the cloth-lined bowl. Gather the cloth up around the wet mixture and squeeze out the white coconut milk.

Tips & Warnings

• Store the coconut milk in the fridge to keep it from going bad, or freeze it for use at a later date. Coconut milk will keep up to a week in the refrigerator and can be frozen up to a year.

• In addition to recipes, coconut milk is a great additive for making home-made soaps.

• Be very careful when trying to pry the coconut meat out of the shell with a knife. Don't stab yourself.

• Don't place coconuts in an oven without first putting a hole in them or cracking them open. The water inside can cause them to explode and cause burns.

References

• Clove Garden: Coconut