While driving around Kauai last week the girls were fascinated by all the coconuts sitting at the tops of Palm trees. They asked to buy a fresh coconut to eat, but getting the coconut meat out isn’t always easy if you don’t happen to carry around a machete. Here’s what I found from my “research” which included hitting coconuts with hammers and throwing them at the ground like some sort of medicine ball workout. Ahem. 
Read on to find out how to easily open a coconut! 

Choose a coconut that is heavy for it’s size. It will have more coconut water, which you can drink immediately or save for cooking. 

How to Open a Coconut
Preheat the oven to 450 degrees F. 
Find the three 1/2″ dots at one end of the coconut. One will be easier to pierce than the other two. Use a paring knife or a screwdriver to puncture that softer dot. The wider the hole the more easily the water will drain. 
Turn the coconut over on top of a cup until all the water has drained out. Drink the coconut water or save for later. Add it to smoothies or use for cooking scrambled eggs! 
Place the drained coconut in the oven and bake for 7-10 minutes until coconut begins to crack. Remove from oven and cool completely in the freezer. This will help the coconut meat pull away from the shell (is it called a shell???). 
If coconut hasn’t completely cracked open, place a cutting board on the ground and throw the coconut down, or use a hammer or rolling pin to crack it the rest of the way open.
Use a butter knife to carefully cut the coconut meat away from the shell. A thin brown skin will probably remain on the meat. Some people eat this and I find it tasty, personally. Others remove it because it’s hard on their tummy. It can be peeled off using a vegetable peeler if you desire. Eat chilled or in your favorite coconut recipe. I’ll have a recipe using fresh coconut up next! 

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