Cracking a Coconut

Drain Coconut:

1 hammer

1 ice pick or screwdriver

1 bowl

Sieve

Use an ice pick or screwdriver to poke out 2 of the coconut’s eyes. Strain the coconut water through a sieve and into a bowl.

Baked Coconut:

Towel

Hammer

Vegetable peeler

Grater or coconut grater

Baking sheet

Bake the coconut in a preheated 400 degree F oven for 10 to 15 minutes or until coconut cracks. Wrap the baked coconut in a towel, and tap it with a hammer all over. This loosens the meat from the shell. Use a vegetable peeler to scrape off the brown skin before grating the meat.

Fresh Coconut Milk:

Blender

Hot water

Cheesecloth

Sieve

After baked, remove all the coconut meat from the shell, peel off the brown skin and cut the meat into very small cubes.

Place the meat in a blender, add hot water to just cover all of the meat and blend until finely grated.

Place a sieve covered with cheesecloth over a bowl and pour the coconut meat and water into the sieve squeezing handfuls of the coconut meat to extract as much liquid as possible into the bowl.

Discard the squeezed coconut meat and refrigerate the coconut milk that has been extracted into the bowl. Refrigerate the milk and use within 1 or 2 days.