How to Puncture and Crack a Coconut Safely

Fresh coconut is delicious but trying to open a coconut safely is challenging. A coconut's hard outer hull makes it difficult to get to the tasty interior. How the heck do you open a coconut without losing a finger?

If you've brought a coconut home from the supermarket, you'll want to ensure that you puncture and crack the coconut safely.

Opening a coconut can be dangerous: slip with a hammer and you've set yourself up for a whole lot of pain, slip with a cleaver and . . . you can picture the rest!

Because they are round, coconuts can roll around, which makes cracking them challenging if you don't go about it in the right manner.

It is easy to become frustrated when trying to open a coconut but it is always prudent to practice safe, injury-reducing tricks.

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Use these tricks to safely breach the hard outer shell and easily remove coconut meat

Step I

• Locate the Three Eyes on the Coconut--the coconut eyes are the entry point. This is where you'll make a small hole in the coconut and drain it, prior to breaking the outer shell.
• Use a Blunt Object--clean a screwdriver or a blunt nail and align it with one of the coconut eyes. Tap the handle of the screwdriver or the nail top with a hammer until you gain entry.
• How to Widen the Opening--rotate the screwdriver/nail to widen the opening.
• Place the whole coconut inside a strainer to drain the coconut liquid into a container.
• The coconut liquid can be used fresh or poured into ice cube trays and frozen for later use in recipes.

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Step II

Once the coconut liquid has been removed from the coconut, you'll now want to crack the coconut to get at the innards.

• How to Prevent the Coconut From Rolling Around--place the coconut in a plastic zip-lock bag and seal. This prevents it from rolling around.
• Put the coconut on a cutting board.
• Hold coconut firmly at one end and smack the coconut at the middle point with a hammer. Continue, rotating the coconut and smacking until the outer shell cracks in half.

A hand-held coconut shredder can be used to remove coconut meat from inside of shell

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Step III

A neat trick so that coconut innards come away easily

• Place the coconut halves on a baking sheet and bake for 10 minutes at a moderate heat, until innards shrink.
• Remove the coconut pieces from oven and allow to cool slightly.
• Use a spoon to break off pieces of coconut.

Coconut can now be shredded.

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Coconut pieces may be difficult to shred and rather than trying to do this manually, it is best to use an appliance that is designed to shred coconut.

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Opening coconuts is relatively easy, once you know how to puncture and crack them safely. Once opened, coconuts offer tasty coconut milk and meat hidden inside.

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• Use a blunt object to puncture coconut in one of the three eyes
• Prevent coconut from rolling around by placing in a zip-lock bag before striking it

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