It helps if the coconut is at a pretty young stage. Videos on youtube will better show how southeast asains cut them open. When still very young, you can easily cut away the outer parts. If the husk is still white and looks like foam. You can slowy slice away and get to the inner shell which is still soft and flexible.
There was a vendor who used to pass by my house. He could cut open and scoop the meat intact containing the water like a delicious balloon.
user4302
In SEA Basically cut off the top but by bit. Until you see a slightly different texture, then use the special knife to cut a square at the top.
I’ve also had success using a butter knife to go straight into it in a square pattern (without cutting off the sides before hand) then using the same knife to pry out the square as if it’s a block in a socket easily.
Edit: i just re read your post. The pressure is kinda tough to avoid. You can prevent it from splashing by keeping a cloth around whatever took you’re using to cut into it, but completely stopping it might be tough or impossible.
SenecaTheElda
Opening a coconut is work, and you need a very sharp cleaver or machete to get through the husk even if its young. These fruits fall from ~30 feet and frequently do not burst open.
Your image shows the top part of the husk cleanly cut, so would imagine this is how you bought it? Fresh coconut is not very pressurized, so it is possible your coconut has travelled from afar, experiencing different temperature changes and lots of movement. My experience, here in the Philippines, is that it is not very pressurized so have not experienced the squirt you mention.
I dont have a lot of experience with dismantling a coconut, and would love to hear from more experienced folks, but here is how I approach it on the occasion that I do.
Get your sharp cleaver and start chopping off the husk, roughly following the curve of the fruit, with the thinner cut from the white top, and thicker cuts from the green side.. Take off maybe 5mm or a quarter of an inch at a time, till you start seeing the flesh. The flesh is fairly thick, so you have some slight wiggle room. Once you see the flesh, take your cleaver or knife and make a quick, largish cut so whatever pressure is inside is expelled over a large opening and not a small hole.
YMMV as Im no expert, but this is how I cut open my nuts. It is a messy afair tbh, as the coconuts we typically get are fresh from the tree, or we let vendor do the hard job – they do all this work, and including the coconut it costs less than a dollar.
I have a couple of coconut trees but dont frequently bother with the hardwork, so when I do this on the rare occasion, it is done outdoors and accept my fate that it will be all over the place.
Etherealnutt
Smack that bitch with a hammer and knife my bro
invistaa
We in Southeast Asia use machete. Its different from sword. I dont think in west there is similar thing that work. Axe actually will do but it still need alot work.
Or just use drill..
Estratheoivan
I bought that too, apparently, the coconut you’re punching is too young, that is why it spurts… 😅
10 Comments
Put it in the fridge for a bit. Will lower the psi in the coconut.
I was actually looking into that just a few days ago. Have a few coconuts I’d like to open easily and although I’m seeing a [few of these tools ](https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0DY75JRHQ/ref=sspa_dk_detail_0?psc=1&pd_rd_i=B0DY75JRHQ&pd_rd_w=YDCNh&content-id=amzn1.sym.953c7d66-4120-4d22-a777-f19dbfa69309&pf_rd_p=953c7d66-4120-4d22-a777-f19dbfa69309&pf_rd_r=0MT9JH1S6FXE9EB510ER&pd_rd_wg=Y2Ie8&pd_rd_r=d8d80eb7-0595-4fd6-bee2-f0a68a29fbaa&sp_csd=d2lkZ2V0TmFtZT1zcF9kZXRhaWwy)online, they are not getting great reviews.
A drill.
It helps if the coconut is at a pretty young stage. Videos on youtube will better show how southeast asains cut them open. When still very young, you can easily cut away the outer parts. If the husk is still white and looks like foam. You can slowy slice away and get to the inner shell which is still soft and flexible.
There was a vendor who used to pass by my house. He could cut open and scoop the meat intact containing the water like a delicious balloon.
In SEA
Basically cut off the top but by bit. Until you see a slightly different texture, then use the special knife to cut a square at the top.
I’ve also had success using a butter knife to go straight into it in a square pattern (without cutting off the sides before hand) then using the same knife to pry out the square as if it’s a block in a socket easily.
Edit: i just re read your post. The pressure is kinda tough to avoid. You can prevent it from splashing by keeping a cloth around whatever took you’re using to cut into it, but completely stopping it might be tough or impossible.
Opening a coconut is work, and you need a very sharp cleaver or machete to get through the husk even if its young. These fruits fall from ~30 feet and frequently do not burst open.
Your image shows the top part of the husk cleanly cut, so would imagine this is how you bought it? Fresh coconut is not very pressurized, so it is possible your coconut has travelled from afar, experiencing different temperature changes and lots of movement. My experience, here in the Philippines, is that it is not very pressurized so have not experienced the squirt you mention.
I dont have a lot of experience with dismantling a coconut, and would love to hear from more experienced folks, but here is how I approach it on the occasion that I do.
Get your sharp cleaver and start chopping off the husk, roughly following the curve of the fruit, with the thinner cut from the white top, and thicker cuts from the green side.. Take off maybe 5mm or a quarter of an inch at a time, till you start seeing the flesh. The flesh is fairly thick, so you have some slight wiggle room. Once you see the flesh, take your cleaver or knife and make a quick, largish cut so whatever pressure is inside is expelled over a large opening and not a small hole.
YMMV as Im no expert, but this is how I cut open my nuts. It is a messy afair tbh, as the coconuts we typically get are fresh from the tree, or we let vendor do the hard job – they do all this work, and including the coconut it costs less than a dollar.
I have a couple of coconut trees but dont frequently bother with the hardwork, so when I do this on the rare occasion, it is done outdoors and accept my fate that it will be all over the place.
Smack that bitch with a hammer and knife my bro
We in Southeast Asia use machete. Its different from sword. I dont think in west there is similar thing that work. Axe actually will do but it still need alot work.
Or just use drill..
I bought that too, apparently, the coconut you’re punching is too young, that is why it spurts… 😅
The back end of meat cleaver