Coconut is an exotic fruit exported from India, southeast Asia and the Caribbean islands. If this is your first time purchasing a whole coconut, you are undoubtedly having difficulty opening it.

Here are some practical tips on how to crack open a coconut easily.

Extracting water from coconut

Let's move on to the main methods for opening nuts

Hit and roll method

Stone Age Method

Pouch method

Heat - cold method

	You can decide, therefore, to preheat your nut in the oven (90 ° for 15 minutes), or alternatively refrigerate it in the freezer for the same time.
	After 15 minutes, take a hammer and, holding the coconut in your hand, hit it along an imaginary center line, rotating it around itself after each blow.
	Continue until the coconut opens.
	Now it will not be difficult to separate the pulp from the shell.

ATTENTION!

1. It is very important to empty the coconut before placing it in the oven to avoid dangerous explosions.
2. Be careful if you choose to open your nut with a knife, if you are unsure and afraid of cutting yourself, choose an alternative opening method.
3. Whichever method you choose, be very careful.
4. Examine the coconut beforehand; it must be completely ripe - if it smells bad, or if the pulp is not dense, you shouldn't even start opening it.

Never try to bite through the nut with your teeth.

Visitor question:

People, tell me how to open a coconut?
The child begged in the store, and I have never indulged myself with this overseas nut.

We figured out how to get to the milk - we gouged out the two upper holes with a knife, and a tube was inserted into one. It's good that the coconut milk turned out to be fresh, according to my feelings, otherwise I do not know how to choose coconuts.
But we want with the child to make a small house for the hamster from coconut shells, respectively, we need to pull out the pulp from there. How to do this carefully so as not to break the shell?

And by the way, what can be made from this coconut pulp?

1 year ago

Coconuts are very healthy and tasty, the pulp of these exotic fruits is included in many salads, desserts, pies and even first courses. But in order to cook these "goodies" or just enjoy the contents of a nut, you need to learn in practice how to open a coconut. This task is not as difficult as it might seem at first glance.

There are several options for quickly extracting the coconut milk and pulp from the shell. But sometimes you can hear complaints that this or that method turned out to be ineffective. The fact is that only high-quality fruit can be easily opened. Buy coconut if:

• when shaking near the ear, you hear milk splashing inside the nut;
• the shell is free of damage, traces of mold and decay processes;
• it has three small holes at the base.

If you have a handsome coconut that meets these requirements in your hands, you can force him to "reveal his secrets" using one of the following methods.

Splitting with a hammer

This is the most popular way to open a coconut easily.

1. Use a nail or screwdriver to make three holes in the nut. One of them should be the widest, most transparent.
2. Pour the liquid out of the fruit.
3. Tap the coconut with the hammer from the side of the holes without using too much force.
4. When cracks appear, split the shell in half at the split.

Opening with a knife

Using a regular kitchen knife will help open the coconut without a hammer, just as experienced cooks do.

1. Place the fruit on a cutting board.
2. Use the tip of a nail or screwdriver to punch a hole and drain the milk.
3. Insert a knife into the resulting hole and hit the handle well - the integrity of the shell will be broken.

Splitting in a package

1. Screw a screwdriver or nail into one of the three natural holes in the nut.
2. Pour the juice into a jar.
3. Place the fruit in a plastic bag and hit it with something heavy, using maximum force.
4. Remove the broken shells and pulp from the bag.

Safety regulations

Anyone who wants to open the fruit on their own needs to remember the basic safety rules:

• when exposed to the shell with a knife, considerable physical force must be applied so that it does not bounce off the nut, otherwise you can seriously injure yourself;
• the crack formed in the shell may close again - do not let your fingers get in it;
• clearly follow the instructions on how to open the coconut correctly, otherwise fragments may fly in different directions, threatening injury, including the eyes;
• if you decide to heat the shell to easily separate the pulp, be sure to drain the juice before heating so that the fruit does not explode.

Coconut storage: solving a complex issue

How to store an open coconut is not an idle question, because this fruit is not always consumed immediately after splitting. To prevent an exotic delicacy from becoming unhealthy, store it in one of the following ways.

In the fridge

Once opened, the coconut can be stored in the refrigerator at a temperature of + 2-5 ° C for only two days. If the temperature regime is violated, expect unpleasant surprises: when overheated, the fruit begins to rot, and with too much cold it becomes tasteless and watery. Temperature changes will also impair the taste of the coconut pulp.

Please note: if the pulp has a sour smell or has a bitter taste, in any case, do not use it or milk.

To prolong the shelf life of the pulp, you can fill it with water. As a result, the dense content of the coconut will be usable for another 3-4 days, although, unfortunately, it will lose its normal taste. But if you are going to use coconut pulp as an ingredient in a certain dish, perhaps the appearance of "wateriness" in the taste will not significantly affect its quality.

Fill a container with coconut milk that can be hermetically sealed. The container should be as far away from bananas, apples, pears, melons and beets as possible: these fruits release ethylene. The milk remains usable for 6-7 days. If a creamy mass forms on its surface, just remove it.

In the freezer

Upset that open coconut has very little storage time? Use a freezer - freezing will keep the pulp for about six months, and the milk will retain its characteristic flavor for another 2-3 months. Freeze the contents of the nut in this way:

• pour the milk into molds or small jars;
• separate the flesh from the shell and chop with a blender, then lightly sprinkle with coconut juice and pack in portions in airtight bags.

Coconut pulp and juice must not be thawed. They are used immediately after being removed from the freezer. It is also unacceptable to defrost and re-freeze parts of the fruit.

Drying from coconut

If you are satisfied with the taste of dried coconut, feel free to take up the preparation of your favorite delicacy: coconut flakes are stored for about a year. Grind the flesh of an exotic nut in a food processor and dry in an oven with a slightly open door or in a microwave oven at a temperature of 50 to 60 ° C (this will take 3.5 hours). Pack the resulting product in tightly closed containers or bags, sewn from cotton or linen. Keep the shavings in a cool dry room with good air circulation, as this product can deteriorate in the refrigerator.

For the inhabitants of our latitudes, coconuts are exotic and interesting fruits. Few people, having watched a beautiful advertisement or a film about life on the island, have not thought about what coconut tastes like.

Some, satisfying their curiosity, buy a bounty. But if a famous bar is sold at every step, then where and how to get coconut milk is a natural product.

In fact, it is also sold, however, only in large stores. But the fact is that an ordinary tetrapack and an ordinary candy kill all the charm of the moment. Therefore, the day comes when a person decides to buy the coveted fruit. He happily brings it home and ... realizes that he has no idea how to open a coconut.

All the materials at hand are used. The unfortunate nut (dry drupe, to be more precise) is drilled with a drill, sawed with a hacksaw, and thrown on a grand scale and pounded with a hammer. Knives, axes, chisels, chisels, nails, screwdrivers, scissors - everything goes into action. It happens that the ill-fated coconut cannot be opened, or the result of the efforts are pieces of shell scattered throughout the kitchen, neighbors angry with a roar and splashed juice. The desire to associate with this fruit disappears forever.

To prevent this from happening, let's look at the simplest ways to get to the delicious pulp.

Extracting coconut water

Yes, it’s not milk. Milk is an artificial product made from ground pulp and water.

Any method that describes it always starts with pouring out the coconut water. Otherwise, upon opening it will splatter and you will not be able to try it. However, if the nut is very old, it may not be there. But such coconut is generally not worth eating, since the lack of liquid inside means that it is not very good for consumption.

So, wash the coconut and find three dark specks on it. It is necessary to make holes in two of them. These are the most vulnerable spots, but it is still difficult to pierce them, so be very careful not to get hurt! One of the specks, by the way, is softer than the others, but it is still more convenient to perforate two so that the juice flows out faster.

You can use a knife, a large nail and a hammer, a corkscrew, as a last resort, a drill. After punching the hole, turn the fruit over and pour the liquid into a glass. Or you can put in a straw and sip some water straight from the coconut.

Now that we have deprived our fruit of the "life-giving moisture", we will figure out how to open a coconut.

Method number 1

Most civilized. Take a good knife, measure about 1/3 from the side of the coconut where the "eyes" are, and separate this part with an imaginary line. Holding the coconut in one hand, strike along this line with a knife, gradually turning the coconut around its axis. Sooner or later, the shell will crack. If it doesn't come off right away, just do a few more tapping movements and gently peel off the cover.

Use the method only if you are confident in your coordination! You can place the coconut on a cutting board. Instead of a knife, you can try knocking with a hammer.

Method number 2

You will need a knife, a hammer and put the fruit on the board, measure 1/3 again, as in the previous method, attach the blade of a large strong knife to the imaginary line and hit it with a hammer. A crack should appear. Repeat the process by rotating the coconut in a circle.

The result is two neat halves (some are not very neat, but everything comes with experience). Now we extract the pulp. As a rule, it fits very tightly to the shell, so you have to pry it off with a knife or spoon. To make this process easier, place the chopped nut in the refrigerator for an hour or two.

Method number 3

You will need a towel (bag, plastic wrap) and a hammer.

With a towel or a bag wrapped around the nut, start hammering it in a circle, hitting it right in the middle (at the widest point). If all else fails, just try to "blow off" the coconut where you have to with a hammer, brick or other heavy object. But in this case, it is better to do it on the floor, preferably concrete. But do not expect to get two even halves, as in an advertisement. However, you still have to grind the coconut for consumption, so do not get upset.

These were the most popular and simple descriptions of how to crack a coconut. Of course, a little skill is needed. But after trying it a couple of times, you will see that it is quite simple.

The question of how to open a coconut inevitably arises before those who first decided to try it. In tropical countries, where it is constantly present in the diet, it is opened with a special device, similar to both a drill and a corkscrew. In northern latitudes, coconut is considered exotic and difficult to find commercially. Therefore, you will have to use what is at hand.

Coconut water is often mistakenly referred to as "milk". Actually, coconut water (juice) and coconut milk are two different things. Water is what is inside the nut, and the so-called coconut milk is made from crushed pulp with the addition of water.

Before chopping a coconut at home, you must remove the liquid from it. Otherwise, such a useful product will not only be wasted, but also sprinkle everything around. Take a thin screwdriver and insert it into the holes (seedling pores) on the shell, piercing the skin that covers them. You may have to make an effort to do this, for example, hammer a screwdriver in time with a hammer. To speed up the process, you will need at least two such holes. Juice will flow from one, and air will flow into the other. You can understand that the hole is ready by a clap, reminiscent of the sound that is heard when opening a bottle of soda.

With small eye sockets, milk will drain slowly. To speed up the process, use a drill and drill a hole in the opposite side of the nut. Place the coconut over the container, blow air into the cavity if necessary. The liquid will drain many times faster.

If the fruit is green and unripe, its pulp is inedible. It . Its main value lies in the liquid inside, and the shell is comparable in hardness to a ripe pumpkin. To open a young coconut it is enough to arm yourself with a knife and cut off the top. Even a small pocket knife will do. The juice can then be poured into a glass or drunk immediately through a cocktail tube.

How to open a coconut

There are several ways to gently crack a coconut using household items available in any home. Each of them is chosen depending on what result is supposed to be obtained: peel the shell, keeping the pulp intact, get a semblance of a broken watermelon and cut the pulp from it, gently break the shell together with copra into two halves.

After opening the coconut, notice the smell. The milk should have a characteristic pleasant and fresh aroma. Otherwise, the fruit has a sour smell, and the taste will give off bitterness.

How to chop a coconut with a knife

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

1. How to prick a coconut, affecting the sprout hole. The knife must be inserted into the hole that was made earlier to drain the liquid, and hit on its handle with something heavy, for example, a hammer. This will help split the nut into two halves and easily open it and reach the pulp.
2. How can you open a coconut by acting on the seam at the junction of the two halves. Using the edge of a knife with a cutting movement, methodically press on the seam. As a result, the nut will split into two equal parts. The process is quite long, requiring skill and patience.

How to break a coconut at home with a hammer

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

How to cut a coconut with a saw and screwdriver

Opening the coconut in this way takes only 2-4 minutes, and the result looks nice and neat. It is best to take a hacksaw for metal, it can be easier and faster to cut the shell, hard as a stone:

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

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 to hit: with a nut on a stone or vice versa, but it is important to make sure that the main blow falls on the seam connecting the halves of the fruit. Naturally, there is no need to talk about cleanliness and accuracy here. Therefore, before breaking the coconut, it is better to wrap the tropical treat in a towel.

The next way is much easier. Throw the nut onto a hard surface. It can be a concrete wall or floor, a thick tree trunk. Already from the first throw, a crack will go over the shell, through which you can drink or drain the milk. The second hit (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.

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

How to cut a coconut

For some, the most difficult thing is opening the shell of an exotic delicacy, and someone is wondering how to peel a coconut at home. This can also be done in several ways.

How to cut a coconut? If the appearance of the resulting product is not important, the pulp from the rind can simply be cut with a knife. After that, the peeled pulp can be eaten or stored in the refrigerator.

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

How to peel a coconut from the shell and how to properly cut it if you don't have a knife at hand? In this case, you can use a spoon. This method will take a little longer, but the result will undoubtedly please.

If you need to get a beautiful solid copra, you can use the temperature drop method. First, you need to drain the milk from the nut. Otherwise, it will "explode". Then send it to the oven for 20 minutes, preheated to 180-200 degrees, or for 15 minutes in the microwave, setting the maximum power. Then take out and place in the freezer for 20 minutes. The shell will crack from the temperature drop and it will be easy and simple even for a child to peel the coconut from the shell.

The shells after such processing are removed without difficulty if you knock on them with the handle of a knife, and the process itself is similar to cleaning a hard-boiled egg. The result is a clean kernel, which also looks like a large egg. It may have a thin brown skin that can be removed with a knife or potato peeler. Then the pulp can be cut into pieces and refrigerated.

Make a souvenir out of the shell. Most often, the halves of the nuts are used as a salt shaker, candlestick, plate for buttons, keys and other little things. Small and unsightly shards serve as drainage for indoor flowers.

You may not be able to properly cut the coconut with the tools at hand the first time. You need to understand that this activity is not so much difficult as painstaking, requiring patience and skill. It is important to observe basic safety precautions. After all, most of the tools used are piercing and cutting objects. And if not everything works out perfectly, you should not despair. The second attempt will undoubtedly be more successful.

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There is little surprise for a modern person. This is especially true for exotic fruits. On the shelves of the supermarket you can find any curiosity brought from anywhere in the world. Coconuts have long ceased to be something unusual and rare. Have you ever thought about their benefits? In fact, coconut is rich in nutrients, it contains vitamins B and C, glucose, sucrose, fructose, calcium, iron, potassium, sodium and mineral salts. Coconut has regenerating properties. It is used to treat diarrhea, cholera, impotence, vitamin deficiency, diseases of the genitourinary system, and Coconut helps to improve vision, controls blood sugar, improves insulin secretion, and this helps prevent diabetes.

How to split a coconut at home

So, knowing all the usefulness of this product, you decided to purchase a nut. However, immediately after the purchase, the question arises - how to split the coconut, because it has such a dense peel. Many people try to open it with a hammer, knife, file, and other improvised means available on the farm. Probably, many have seen on TV how cleverly the inhabitants of hot countries know how to open coconuts. However, you still cannot cope with the shell and get to the filling. So, how to chop a coconut at home.

As you know, in addition to pulp, coconut contains useful things.Therefore, the first thing to start with is to extract liquid from it so that it does not spill when the fruit is opened. To do this, you need to make a hole in the coconut. To do this, take some sharp object - a drill or a thick nail. Place the coconut on a hard surface with three dark circles facing towards you. It is at them that you need to aim in order to make a hole, since they are the most delicate areas of an exotic nut. Place the tool on one of the spots and hit it with a hammer. A hole in the coconut will be made without much difficulty. You can make two more holes in the remaining areas, or you can drain the milk through the hole already made.

How to split a coconut at home after draining the liquid? It turns out that opening this exotic fruit is not such a difficult task. You just need to know the correct technology. There is one secret line on the coconut. If you hit it, the coconut will crack quickly and easily. This line is located on the side of the dark eyes. It is she who will help us open the coconut.

The photo shows where this cherished line is located. Now take a knife or hammer. By tapping the tool along this line in a circle, you will notice a crack along the coconut.

So, you already know how to crack a coconut at home. Now the last step remains - to separate the peel from the pulp. This is much easier if you put the coconut in the refrigerator for a few hours or in a hot oven for a couple of minutes. After these simple manipulations, the pulp will easily peel off the peel.

Now all you have to do is choose a recipe for preparing a dish using delicious and healthy coconut pulp!