How to Crack a Coconut and Other Secrets

The simplest low-budget and low-tech technique for cracking a coconut is to get a plastic bag (two is best), put the coconut inside and then tie the ends shut or use a rubber band to secure the bag closed. Then simply swing the coconut firmly onto any hard, flat surface. It may take a couple of tries. This should shatter the coconut into shards, which is good if you want the meat, because it's easier to separate tough matured coconut meat from the husk when you are doing it from little shards. The purpose of sealing the bag is to retain the coconut juice, which should have come sloshing out when the coconut was shattered. To get at this just hold the bag up so that the liquid settles at the bottom, then cut or puncture a small hole in the bag. Needless to say, have a cup or receptacle under the bag ready before you do this.

If you've got a proper kitchen to work from this process becomes even easier. Refrigerate the coconut a bit before cracking, it will crack easier if it is cold for a bit. Then get a large bowl. Over the bowl, hold the coconut in one hand with one of the seams (lines running between the two eyes) facing toward you. Keep the hand that is holding the coconut on the opposite side of it, supporting it from underneath as it faces toward you. Then use a blunt instrument, like the back of a large cleaver blade and smack the coconut along the seam. One good smack should get it to begin to crack, and a follow-up whack or three should begin to separate it. Again it is important to have it over the bowl if you do it this way, because the juice will slosh right out when it is cracked open.

With young coconuts, the meat is usually soft and can be scooped right out of the shell with a spoon. Most likely you'll have a mature coconut however, which has tougher meat that is firm and clings to the shell. The best way to get this stuff off is with a small knife with a flexible blade, like a grapefruit knife. The flexible blade allows the knife to bend as it follows the contours of the shell, as you firmly undercut the meat to separate it.

The liquid found inside the coconut is not milk but actually just water, which will have some semi-sweet flavoring from having been in the fruit for so long. To make actual coconut milk like the kind you can get in Asian restaurants, you'll have to blend the coconut water with the meat that you separated from the shell in a blender. Blend as well as possible then strain the liquid through a fine filter or a piece of cheesecloth. Aside from being delicious on its own, you can add rum and fresh pineapple to coconut milk for the classic tropical coconut mixed drink.

It's tough to get fresh coconuts in the U.S. or Europe, unless you happen to be in the southern reaches of Florida, so this is more of a tip for travel when overseas, especially in Asian countries where they are a cheap and tasty snack. Bon appetit!