How to Crack a Coconut at Home

The delicate, slightly sweet taste of coconut is very appreciated, refreshing, it reeks of tropical flavor. And sometimes you want to enjoy the true flavor of coconut or transform a holiday table with an exotic serving. But the tropical fruit is very hard, and it is not easy to open. Of course, you don't need a drill or a circular saw. But you will have to make some effort, especially if you want to preserve the nut for exquisite serving.

Cracking a coconut with an oven

This is the classic and best known method. It will save a good appearance of the shell for later serving as a decor or decoration. The method is quite simple, it requires an oven and a sharp knife or housekeeper.

Initially it is necessary to drain the juice from the fruit. If this is not done, it will boil inside the coconut and literally explode the fruit. A mass of pulp and shell will be lost, and the oven will have to be thoroughly cleaned. To drain the coconut juice is very simple. It is necessary to turn the fruit side, where there are several small indentations, usually this is the top. It is through them that the coconut fed from the palm. Now you should carefully identify the softest place with a sharp knife. This is where you need to go decisively deep, turning the knife to a depth of 1.5 cm. You can make the task a little easier by using a clean screwdriver.

Now you need to quickly turn the coconut over a glass or a cup and observe if the liquid comes out. If the juice has begun to drip, then the depression is sufficient, and you will only have to wait a little longer. Depending on the fruit, it may take anywhere from a few to ten minutes. The volume of juice from one coconut is 120-160 ml. By the way, here you can determine how fresh and suitable the fruit is. If the juice is clear and sweet, then it is the highest grade. A little turbidity is still allowed. If the juice has an oily consistency, it means that the coconut is already spoiled, and it is not recommended to eat it.

It is better to open the coconut at the maximum temperature. The higher the temperature, the better and faster the fruit will crack. The coconut should be placed on a rack, so it will not bake and burn, but will heat evenly around the whole circumference. Ten minutes is usually enough. Then you need to take it out and examine it closely. It is necessary to find a big crack or several small ones in the shell. If there are none, you should continue heating it further.

Wrap the coconut with the crack in a thin towel or plastic bag and bang it several times on the table with the already damaged side. The initial crack will be a weak point, so the shell will crack. Now it is enough to pick it up with a knife and with rocking motions open the fruit. The pulp should be peeled to whiteness with a sharp knife or housekeeper. The whole, undamaged nut is ready to serve. The shell is also usually split into 2-3 pieces and can be used in a dish or table decoration.

Cleaning the coconut using the microwave

The technique is as similar as possible to the method with the oven, but there are certain differences. The main one is the very quality of removal of coconut juice. It is necessary to drain the maximum amount of moisture, and it is recommended to shake the nut several times. This will take about 10 minutes.

Even with quality removal of the juice, the coconut can still explode in the microwave. So you should put the fruit inside for 2 minutes at maximum power, take it out quickly and take a look. If there are no big cracks, put it in for another 40 seconds. And so continue until there is enough damage on the shell.

Then wrap the fruit in a bag or thin cloth and hit the table a few times with the exact side where the crack occurred. The crack is easily picked with a knife, so the nut is opened with a rocking motion. After that, all that remains is to peel the pulp. The method takes less time compared to the oven, but the special effect of the microwave bakes a little bit and the pulp, which slightly changes the taste and aroma of fresh coconut.

Smash the coconut with a hammer

This is the most brutal, but quite effective way. You will not need to drain the coconut water, just wrap the fruit with a paper towel and cloth. The wrapping should be done carefully, preferably wrapping everything so that the fruit is firmly fixed. The wrapped coconut should be placed horizontally on a table or hard surface.

The left hand should be held tightly to the end of the fruit, and the right hand should be used to make sharp blows with a hammer. It is better to hit the center of the coconut. You can also gently rotate the fruit after each blow, so there will be a circular crack, and the shell will split into two beautiful pieces. They can be used in table decorations or in serving dishes. If struck at one point, the nut can crack without cracking.

When the fruit cracks or falls apart into two or three pieces under the blows, you should unwrap the towels, move everything under the bowl and open the shell. About 150 ml of liquid will come out. Now you need to free the pulp from the rest of the shell. Small pieces can simply be picked up with a sharp knife. If there are halves or ends, you should put them on the edge and strike a few more blows with a hammer, but not very hard.

When splitting, the hand should hold tightly the tip of the coconut, and the hammer should strike at one point, you can in the pointed end. Then the pulp, which has fallen to pieces, can easily be removed with a knife.

When beating it out, many light blows should be made all over the area. The goal is for the pulp to peel away from the shell, then it can be poked out whole with a knife or spoon. The pulp still has a thin outer rind, it should be peeled with a housekeeper or a sharp knife. In general, the method is very fast, an experienced cook does this procedure in a little over a minute. However, it requires skill, experience and some physical strength.

Breaking a coconut with a kitchen hammer

In addition to a construction hammer, you can use an ordinary kitchen hammer for chops. And for some, this method is the easiest and quickest to master. The whole technique is identical to the usual smashing. The only nuance - it is better to drain the juice, as the pulp will break and the liquid will splash all over the kitchen.

Drain the coconut water is standard. You need to use a thin knife or screwdriver to pierce the softest of the three recesses, then turn it over into a glass or bowl. Usually drains about 150 ml of sweet and fragrant water.

Now you can break the fruit. To do this, you need to fix the coconut with one hand and hit it with a chop hammer, the side with large spikes. The most effective technique: imagine the waist and draw a line from the top to the tip. With sharp, moderately hard strokes, tap this entire waistline, moving and turning the coconut. Gradually it will crack evenly and exactly in this place. Another method is to strike hard in one area. This can lead to cracking or breaking of the shells and pulp. Excess pieces should be removed and continue breaking, destroying neighboring areas.

Removal of the pulp from the inner layer of the shell is done with a sharp knife, ideally use a special - sirloin. It is thin and bends well, so the coconut pulp can be easily cut even from large splits without further destruction.

Splitting coconut with a screwdriver

This is a fairly simple method that will produce a fairly presentable nut shell. A flat wide screwdriver or chisel is needed. Even a knife or a kitchen axe will do, the main thing is that the product should be strong on the bend. An ordinary kitchen knife can simply break and hurt your hand.

You need to drain the juice, punching a hole around the three holes and putting the fruit in a bowl or glass for 5 minutes to drain the water. You can split it right off the same eye. There to hammer a screwdriver at a slight angle and loosen, enlarging the hole. Next, you need to pull the hole next to it, and a crack should form. You can use it to crack the whole fruit. If you are not in a hurry, you can almost perfectly split it in two.

Another way: feel for a seam in the area with three depressions and hammer a screwdriver there, loosening the shell at the place of fusion. The best option to collect the pulp from such pieces is to put the already split coconut for 1 minute in the microwave. Then use a knife or a specially sharpened strong dessert spoon to pick up the pulp and turn it out. You can make the task a little easier if you cut it into smaller pieces down to the shell with a knife (so it takes much less effort).

Sawing - preserving the shells for serving

Almost all of the above methods involve uncontrolled or conditionally controlled destruction of the shell. However, sometimes it is necessary to keep it intact for table decoration. In this case, different techniques of sawing the fruit are used.

Any hand saw will do. Circular saws and bolsters are not recommended, as they are difficult to control when working with coconut, and they strongly contaminate the pulp. The optimal solution would be to use a hand jigsaw or metal saw. The smaller the teeth, the better and smoother the cut.

You can saw lengthwise or crosswise, the main thing is to fix the walnut well. You can wrap the unaffected part with a rag for better fixation. There are several techniques:

1. Through-cutting. In this case the fruit is sawn all the way through.
2. Circular sawing of the shell. Only the entire circumference of the shell is sawn through. After fixing one part of the fruit, the sawed off piece should be simply turned with a twisting motion and separated from the pulp.

However, the hardest part is ahead, because if you want to save the shell, it will be difficult to get the pulp out. The best thing to do is to have a special French spoon, which is thin and sharp. That is what they use in restaurants for scraping the pulp from various fruits. You can also sharpen one edge of an ordinary dessert spoon. The area close to the cut can be separated with a knife, simply inserting it between the pulp and the shell and cutting in a circle. Deeper extract the pulp will have to be done with a spoon, taking it gradually, in layers, so as not to damage the shell at the very end. This may take time, especially if you cut off one-third of a nut crosswise. But the result is the perfect ornament or piece of decor for the holiday table.

The difference in temperature can make the extraction of the pulp somewhat easier. This will not work for splitting the nut, but for peeling the pulp from the shell because of the different rate of change in size. Already sawed coconut should be covered with a plate and placed in the microwave for 2-3 minutes, then in the freezer for 2-3 minutes. The pulp will come away from the shell very easily, almost by itself. However, this treatment will dull the coconut flavor somewhat, which is something you should definitely consider.

Conclusion
Despite the apparent complexity, there are a lot of methods to quickly and effectively open the shell. And it is enough of the inventory that you already have in the kitchen. Of course, you should not throw the juicy fruit on the floor. Although this will lead to the desired result, but will splash the room with juice and pulp. It is enough to have an oven or microwave, an ordinary knife, a screwdriver and a spoon. With this kit, you can quickly and safely extract delicious tropical coconut pulp.

If professional serving or table decoration is needed, a hammer or saw will be needed. These tools can already be used to set the shape of the splits or simply to saw a nut as you like. When following the instructions, there is no risk of spoiling the fruit, the shell or getting injured. But it will be possible to serve an exotic dish, decorated as in a restaurant with Michelin stars.