Almost every person, having decided to try the fruit of a coconut palm for the first time, is interested in how to open a coconut so that they can quickly and beautifully get to its pulp. After all, it is covered with a very dense and thick shell consisting of fibers. But if you gain experience and repeat the procedure 3-4 times, you can become a real expert in this matter and even give advice to inexperienced beginners.

How to get coconut milk

Of particular value for cooks and exotic lovers is the coconut core, which you need to get to. There are several ways to do this, but first you need to drink or pour out the coconut milk that is under the shell.

If you shake the fruit when choosing a coconut, you can hear the splashing of liquid inside, which can be eaten. If splashing is not heard, then this fruit is already old, it has been lying on the store counter for a long time and may already be spoiled. After all, the coconut itself is milk that has frozen and turned into pulp and shell.

In order to open a coconut correctly, you need to perform some steps one by one. First you need to wash the fruit, and then find three small dark dots on its upper, slightly pointed part. These are the most vulnerable places of the coconut, since it was here that the nut was attached to the palm tree by its petiole and from here nutrients were supplied to it.

After this, you can take any sharp object - a nail, screwdriver, corkscrew or awl and carefully pierce any 2 holes. After this, you can insert the straw into one hole and drink delicious drink straight out of the shell. Or you can turn the fruit over and let the coconut milk drain into a container.

How to crack a coconut

So, coconut - how to open it. After all the liquid from the fruit has been drained or drunk, you can begin to split it. You can do this in several ways:

• You need to put the nut in a clean plastic bag and hit it hard with a hammer several times. The shell of the fruit will crack and it will be enough to simply separate the pulp from it with a knife. At the same time, from impacts the pulp can often crack and fall apart into pieces.
• Although the next method is a little more complicated and requires skill, it is so effective and beautiful that it will always arouse the admiration of others. You need to take the coconut in your left hand and visually determine the “equator” on it, i.e. a line running through the widest part of the nut. Then you need to step back 2-3 cm from this line towards the narrow part of the nut, where the holes are located, and hit the fruit several times with the back of a heavy and durable knife. After several strong blows, a crack will appear on the coconut, into which you need to insert a knife and use it to split the shell in half. As a result, you will be left with a whole, undamaged coconut core and 2 halves of its shell, which are suitable for crafts.
• Similar to the previous method, before opening a coconut at home, you need to find the “equator” on it. After this, you need to monotonously tap the “equator” of the fruit with the tapered end of the hammer. After some time, the shell will not hold up and will split into 2 halves. After this, you can carefully remove the upper part of the fruit. If the pulp sticks to the shell, you will need to use a knife and carefully separate it.
• You need to take a handsaw or hacksaw and slowly cut the coconut, after draining the milk from it. This way will be ideal option in case of stress.
• If you pour the liquid out of the fruit, you can take a large kitchen or hunting knife and place the coconut on cutting board, hit it hard. The nut will split into 2 neat halves.

How to use coconut meat

After the fruit shell is cracked, the fruit pulp can be eaten, but not everyone knows how to do this correctly.

Young coconuts, which can easily be cut with a knife, are quite easy to eat. After all the liquid has been poured out, you need to make a larger hole in the shell and eat the tasty, tender pulp directly with a spoon.

In older fruits, the pulp is surrounded by a brown peel, which must be cut off with a knife or vegetable peeler. After this, the ripe coconut meat can be cut into small pieces and eaten as is.

An overripe nut will have quite hard pulp and is best used when culinary purposes. Using a regular grater, you can grate the pulp into shavings, which are an ideal topping for pastries and pies. You can also add coconut flakes to homemade cakes– buns or pancakes. And from large quantity shavings can be used to make tender, aromatic and very tasty cookies.

In Thailand, coconut is one of the ingredients national dishes, because here various sauces are prepared from its pulp and milk, delicious soups and many other interesting dishes.

Once you learn how to open a coconut at home, you no longer have to worry about not being able to get to it. tasty pulp and feel free to purchase this exotic tropical fruit.

Another way to split a coconut is in the video.

Opening a coconut at home is easy. It is necessary to pour out the milk and crack the shell.

• Coconut is considered a fatty nut. Even scientists until recently doubted its benefits - they were sure that it had a detrimental effect on blood vessels, clogging them with cholesterol
• But a lot of research has been carried out, and now the whole world knows that coconut successfully fights cholesterol plaques in blood vessels. It is useful thanks to vegetable fiber and contains a large amount of vitamins and microelements
• Many people try not to buy coconuts, despite their benefits for the body. All this is due to the fact that it is difficult to open it at home. If you know how to open a nut correctly, then doing it yourself is not at all difficult.

So you bought a coconut from the supermarket, what next?

How to open a coconut correctly at home?

Ripe and tasty coconut will be big size. Its shell is hard and durable. How to open a coconut correctly at home so that you can truly get paradisaic delight from its taste?

Follow these steps:

• Rinse the nut well under running water
• Examine it: the top end of the coconut has three indentations or three large dark spots
• Take an ice pick or screwdriver and push one of the holes
• Now you can insert a straw for cocktail drinks and drink coke milk, or you can pour it into a mug

Important: If you cannot make a hole, then tap the knife inserted into the recess with a hammer.

• After this, place the coconut on the table and tap it with a hammer on all sides - the nut will begin to split into pieces

Important: Be careful with the hammer to avoid damaging your hands and fingers!

• The pulp can be scooped out with a knife into small pieces

Tip: If the pulp is difficult to separate from the shell, then place the split halves in a preheated oven (200 degrees) for 15 minutes. You can use the microwave.

Important: After this, the tasty snow-white pulp will be easily separated even with a spoon.

If everything is done correctly, then there is nothing complicated in this process. Nowadays, almost everyone knows how to peel a coconut. You can buy this nut in any supermarket. Its price is low, and both adults and children like the taste - it is a tasty and satisfying nut.

Tips and reviews from other people will tell you about little tricks that will help you get the treat out of the hard shell quickly and easily.

Tip: If you want to surprise your guests with this dish, then remove the pulp from the nut in advance so as not to spoil the impression of the delicious dessert by cutting it.

Tip: Coconut shells can serve as a decorative addition to your interior. Its halves will look beautiful in an aquarium as decoration or as flower pots for small cacti. In this case, the nut should not be broken with a hammer, but cut in half with a hacksaw.

Important: Before cutting with a hacksaw, do not forget to drain the milk first. This method of cleaning requires a lot of effort and time, but the halves of the shell are perfectly used on the farm.

Tip: When scooping out the flesh with a knife, be careful not to cut your fingers!

Important: The pulp must be eaten within 24 hours. After 24 hours it starts to turn sour.

Feel like you're in heaven - try coconut! Bon appetit!

Video: How to open a coconut?

The video will help you clearly see how to open a coconut yourself.

Video: How to open a coconut at home?

Coconut is a tropical miracle that has a specific taste. The coconut pulp leaves no one indifferent. Coconut is used in the preparation of both dishes and drinks. However, our supermarkets sell very ripe coconuts, the peel of which has already turned into a shell. This is what stops many from buying. Therefore, in this article, we will look at how to properly cut a coconut at home.

We will need:

• coconut;
• hammer;
• knitting needle / sharp knife.

How to cut a coconut at home without getting hurt

There are 3 eyes in the coconut shell. Only one of them can be pierced. This is what needs to be done first. This is usually easy to do. You can use a knitting needle or knife. After making the hole, you need to shake the liquid out of the coconut. The older the coconut, the less milk it contains. With time coconut water turns first into coconut milk, then into the coconut flesh.

When the coconut is empty, it is the hammer's turn. To avoid littering your apartment, it is recommended to wrap the shell in a bag or towel. This way, all the shell fragments and particles will remain in one place.

Use a hammer to break the coconut shell. As a rule, it is easily separated from the pulp, although there may be cases when the pulp adheres tightly to the shell. Then, taking a piece of shell with pulp and a knife, you need to pry off the coconut flesh and try to carefully separate it.

After removing the shell, you can peel the brown skin from the coconut. This can be done with a knife or vegetable peeler. This peel contains many useful substances and dietary fiber, so it doesn’t need to be cleaned.

Uses of coconut

Most often, coconut is used in the form of shavings. To do this, the peeled pulp must be grated or crushed in a food processor. This product is best suited for baking.

The sweet aroma of coconut will add sophistication to any. For example, you can use this recipe.

Ingredients

• butter - 2 tbsp;
• sugar - ½ cup;
• condensed milk - 1 can;
• flour - 1 glass;
• baking powder - 1 tsp;
• egg - 1 pc.;
• coconut flakes - 1 cup;
• vanillin - optional.

Preparation

2 tbsp. spoons butter melt, add a can of condensed milk and ½ cup sugar. Mix 1 cup of flour and 1 teaspoon of baking powder and combine with the resulting mixture of sugar, condensed milk and butter. Add a glass of coconut flakes and an egg, stir until smooth. If desired, you can add a little vanilla. Preheat the oven to 180°C and bake for 15-20 minutes. It’s better to line the baking tray parchment paper, so the cookies won’t burn. Or you can use small ones paper molds. There are a lot of recipe options. This is just one example of how coconut is eaten and used in cooking.

The smell of coconut reduces hunger, and healthy fats and the substances found in the pulp help improve the functioning of the whole organism. Eating coconut improves metabolism; coconut pulp contains a lot of dietary fiber. This helps improve digestion and improve intestinal function. But that's it beneficial features coconuts are not running out. In the East it is believed that coconut strengthens cardiovascular system, improves blood circulation, reduces cholesterol levels, improves immunity. This is understandable; coconut is extremely common and popular in Southeast Asia.

Coconut oil is widely used in cosmetology. It has excellent restorative properties, so it is added to shampoos, masks and balms. Coconut oil has been successfully used in aromatherapy. The smell of coconut helps reduce appetite, lift your mood, and cope with depression.

Regular massage with coconut oil, will allow the skin to rest, recover and tighten. Vitamins and useful material, contained in coconut, treat acne, cope with wrinkles and minor defects.

Coconut is a tropical nut that grows on a palm tree. It can be purchased from us at the market or in a store. If the product is already on your table, the question arises: how to open a coconut? This is not so simple, because the outer shell of the nut is a hard peel, similar to the bark of a tree. But don't worry that you won't get to taste it. You just need to know some rules for opening a coconut.

Opening a coconut at home is possible, but it will take some work. Don’t get your hopes up by images from an advertisement or movie where a nut cracks with just a slight pressure and tapping. In real life it's not like that.

So, first we buy coconut. To do this, we go to a store or market. The main rule for choosing a product: if you shake it, you will hear the sound of shimmering milk. This indicates that it did not sit on the counter that long and the liquid did not have time to thicken. Accordingly, the more pulp and less milk there is in a coconut, the older it is. This does not mean that the product has expired. For certain purposes would be better suited stale nut, for example, if you want to cook it yourself coconut flakes(it is made from dried pulp). Another selection rule quality product– it should be quite heavy. This also indicates that it is still fresh.

Opening the nut

If you have chosen the most best product, it’s time to answer the question: “How to open a coconut?” There are several ways, the most common is opening with a hammer, because this thing can be found in any home. So let's get started.

First, take the fruit in your hands and pay attention to the three small indentations. They are also called “eyes”. This is the nut's Achilles heel. They are easy to pierce with any sharp object. After the punctures are made, insert the tubes into them and you can drink the milk directly from the coconut or express it into another container. Now you know how to drink coconut.

Want to try the pulp too? Then let's move on! Take a hammer and hit it with the sharp side just below the blackheads. This is also quite a weak point. After two or three blows, cracks will appear on the fruit.

From now on, we proceed directly to cleaning the coconut. Just peel it off, helping yourself with a knife if necessary. After a few minutes, you will have a completely peeled coconut in your hands. So you have already completed all the steps before cutting the coconut.

Now take the knife in your hands again and cut the pulp into small pieces. A delicious tropical dessert is ready. But don’t get carried away with it, coconut is quite fatty, so it is not recommended to eat it in large portions.

There is another way to open a coconut at home. The first stage occurs in the same way: using a sharp object, black dots are broken through at the tip of the nut. Next, the milk is expressed. For further steps you will need an oven. It needs to be heated to 180 degrees, and then put the nut there for 20 minutes. During this time, under the influence high temperature The peel of the fruit will begin to burst on its own. Once the nut has cooled, it can be easily peeled. So without special effort be able to open a coconut at home.

Even if everything didn’t go smoothly for you and it didn’t work out the first time, don’t be discouraged! A little training and soon you can easily open coconut on one's own. Like anything else, it takes a little practice, and that comes with practice. Coconut is extremely healthy and delicious product, so if you have the opportunity to consume it, be sure to take advantage of it. With this product you can prepare a variety of various dishes, from desserts to sauces for meat. With it, your body will receive a huge dose of vitamins and nutrients, and you are a charge of vivacity and energy.

How to open a coconut: Video

Despite the fact that coconut is a fairly popular attribute festive table, not everyone manages to open it the first time. If you don't know which side to approach a store-bought nut, the following instructions will help you.

Based on the arsenal of tools that you have at home, you can choose the most suitable option opening a coconut.

Break with a hammer

If you have knitting needles in the house, before opening the coconut, you need to dig them through the “eyes” of the nut to the very core. In the absence of knitting needles, you can use an awl or a knife with a thin tip to peel fruit. Then pour the “milk” through the resulting holes.

Once the coconut is completely empty, you need to place it on a wooden surface (preferably on a stool or chair), take a hammer and hit it with the sharp end, aiming for the very middle of the fruit. It is better to hit with moderate force, holding the coconut with your other hand.

If you didn’t succeed in breaking the coconut the first time, then the next blow should be applied a little harder. When hit by a hammer nutshell if it cracks, you need to take a medium-sized sharp knife and carefully “saw” the nut with it.

If the coconut is not intended to be used in the future to decorate the table, then you don’t need to use a knife. It is enough to break it with a hammer into small pieces and then separate the pulp from the shell.

You will learn another way to easily open a coconut by watching the video.

Peel with a kitchen knife

At home, you can open a coconut with a regular knife with a heavy handle. To do this, you need to make deep notches along the “equator line” of the coconut with the tip of a knife, and then try to saw the shell along the already prepared marks.

If everything was done correctly, but the coconut still did not open, it should be carefully tossed so that the impact on a hard surface lands on the cut site. At the moment of impact, the nut should split into 2 parts.

After the coconut is opened, it is necessary to clean it of shell fibers, or even better, rinse it well with water. The thing is that coconut fibers often contain bugs, which, when cutting the coconut, can get on the edible flesh.

Using a screwdriver

Men who have a screwdriver at home can easily open a coconut without damaging the flesh of the fruit.

To do this, you need to drill holes in it at a distance of 2-3 cm from each other according to the following pattern:

• clearly along the “equator” line (if you ultimately want to get two equal halves of a coconut with smooth edges);
• along the “equator” in a checkerboard pattern (if, in accordance with the plan, the edges of the coconut should be sharp).

Once the required holes have been drilled, the next step is to crack the coconut shell. Next, you can finally open the coconut using regular knife according to the previously proposed scheme.

How to make a cocktail glass from a coconut?

If you plan to use the coconut in the future as a cocktail glass, then when opening it you will need to cut off only the very top. You should first remove the coconut milk from the nut. This can be done easily through special “eyes” in the coconut, piercing them with any sharp object.

After the milk has been drained, visually determine where the cut line will be and carefully cut the shell along it with a knife (or make several holes with a nail and hammer). The last action will be a strong blow to the “intended” area of ​​the nut with the butt of a hammer. After which, the top will have to separate from the base of the coconut.

Before pouring the cocktail into the resulting container, you should clean the coconut from fibers under running water. Before serving ready-made cocktail Place a straw and decorate with an umbrella or a toothpick with fruit slices - the exotic drink is ready!

How to make a smoothie in a whole coconut?

If you plan to use coconut milk as one of the components of the cocktail, then you don’t have to break the coconut or cut off the top, but mix the necessary liquids inside it using a culinary syringe.

To do this, you need to make a hole in one of the “eyes” of the coconut with a sharp object in such a way that a tube will eventually fit into it.
This method of preparing a cocktail allows you to maximally protect the internal contents of the nut from the ingress of shell fibers.