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Wednesday, February 8, 2017

Coconut, round 2

My first battle with the coconut didn't go too well, and since I was tired of having the partly-open thing on the kitchen counter, I got serious yesterday.


The result: success! Sort of.


***

I may have won the war, but I lost a battle or two along the way.

With a shop full of power tools, I thought it was time to take this to the next level. The bandsaw...


...was doing a great job removing the husk...


...until it wasn't:


The teeth caught in the fibrous inner husk, and I ruined a $30 bandsaw blade. Bent all up. Grrr.

I removed enough of the hard outer coating though so that I could use pliers...


...to grasp a section, twist and roll it back until it was free.

The end result:


A bare coconut!


Or maybe a hedgehog?

Now all I need to do is figure out how to get the milk (water?) out and then crack it open without damaging any other tools.


I told my wife that we are definitely eating every part of this &$%! thing now, as it's becoming the most expensive "treat" ever.

.

6 comments:

  1. outlawgardenerFebruary 8, 2017 at 6:03 PM

    The eyes and nose of your hedgehog are softer than the rest of the coconut. We drive a nail into the soft spots and then pour the milk out. Once it's drained, you can use a hammer to break it. Sorry about the band saw blade.

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  2. Rock rose February 8, 2017 at 7:16 PM

    I shall be interested to see the inside. We drank a heck of a lot of coconut milk in Sri Lanka and the coconuts had no husks. They just used a machete to strike off the top and the coconut was soft inside. I do remember as a child getting a coconut like yours and we would use a nail and hammer to break through the eyes. Then smash the daylights out of into get to the meat. My grandmother always had half a coconut hanging up in the garden for the birds but I suspect this will not be happening at your house.

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  3. Gerhard Bock (Succulents and More)February 9, 2017 at 10:36 AM

    Sorry for ruining a saw blade, but you managed to entertain many of us. Can't wait for the conclusion.

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  4. AlanFebruary 10, 2017 at 2:52 PM

    Good news! I was able to straighten the saw blade, so it's no longer 10x the price of a store-bought coconut! :)

    ReplyDelete
  5. Erica BeacheFebruary 16, 2017 at 8:35 AM

    We use a cutlass(machete) in Trinidad. I've included a link with pictures to help you out the next time. http://www.simplytrinicooking.com/how-to-husk-coconut/

    ReplyDelete
  6. AlanFebruary 18, 2017 at 2:14 PM

    Erica: thanks for the link, but I'm pretty sure this will be the last one that I need to husk for quite a while. :)

    ReplyDelete