Coconuts Anyone?

I obviously don't post very often anymore... haha or EVER!  Much has changed in my life since I last posted, and now instead of spending my days in a large, commercial kitchen where I was responsible for the daily physical nourishment of 50 Bible School students, I spend my time brewing coffee for seminary students, ringing up their lunch sales, and making a home for my husband and me.  So I now get to learn my kitchen lessons on a much smaller scale, and I have some time for finding new culinary delights on Pinterest!  

One recent project I have attempted is to extract all the goodness that I can from a real, honest-to-goodness coconut.  There are so many coconut products in the stores and I love using quite a few of them.  My husband works long, hot days in the Texas sun so we are always looking for ways to keep him hydrated and filled with all the electrolytes that he needs.  We have a drink that we like to get for him, but it was back-ordered a few weeks ago so I had the idea of looking online to see if I could make something comparable.  That led to many recipes including coconut water.  In the store, a 16 oz can of coconut water was $1.69.  Around the corner in the produce section, a coconut was ALSO $1.69... I thought, why not try the REAL thing? I've never even thought of buying one, and I had no idea what to do.  But THIS is what happened!:

First we used a corkscrew to poke holes through 2 of

the "eyes" and drain out the coconut water.

Save the water in a container for the electrolyte drink.

 

 

 

Use the back of a chef knife, or a meat cleaver, and "whack" the

coconut all the way around the equator.  It will start to crack, and

you should be able to split the coconut right down the middle

 

 

 

Put the two halves in the freezer for 15 minutes.

This will make it easier to extract the meat.

 

 

We used a spoon to get separate the inside part from the hard outer shell.

Now there is an inside "skin" that is also hard and brown.

I used a knife to cut that away- or you can use a potato peeler.

 

 

 

After we had gotten the white part (the "meat") separated from all the brown,

then it was ready to use.I tried grating it but that was bad news for my

knuckles and fingernails. The best plan for me to "grate" it was to put it in

the Vitamix with enough water to float, and turn it on high for about

5 seconds!  Drain and then store in the freezer.

 

To make coconut milk:  Put the meat in the Vitamix with good, filtered

water and blend for a few minutes. Now when you strain the solids, you

have coconut milk!  If you don't need to use it all, store it in the freezer. 

The solids that are left over can be dried, and I actually used it as coconut

flour- seemed to work!

 

I also saw on Pinterest that you can extract the coconut oil, but the one time

I tried that, it didn't work.  I may try again.

 

 

 

Now for the drink!  This was the whole reason for

 the project...  the rest was just for fun.

 

 

 

Into the Vitamix, I add 4 peeled oranges, 4 peeled limes and 4 peeled lemons.  Then I fill with

filtered water, and blend for 20 seconds or so.  I strain the solids out of this liquid. 

To the juice, I add the reserved coconut water. 

 

Add 2 t sea salt, and optionally add 2 T honey or maple syrup. ( I don't because

I think it's sweet enough)   At this point, you have a concentrate. 

 

Add equal parts of this juice and filtered water and you have a yummy 

electrolyte drink! I have been freezing the concentrate in ice cubes,

and when we are ready to use it, I put the ice cubes in a water bottle and fill

the rest with water, and by the time he's ready to rehydrate, 

the drink is nice and cold and yummy!