How To Crack A Coconut

Last week I did a post about my friend Nancie McDermott's luscious coconut cake. Another friend, and former student Roger Kimpton, asked how one exactly cracks a coconut. In response, I am posting the essay on how to do just this, from my book Sweet Hands: Island Cooking from Trinidad & Tobago. Once the coconut is cracked and peeled, you can grate on a box grater or using a food processor's grater wheel.




Photo, courtesy ehow.com

Watching my father crack open a coconut was one of the most terrifying experiences of my childhood. Like most West Indians, my father split the coconut’s hard shell with a long cutlass, wide and curved at the tip and nearly two feet long. It resembled something out of Aladdin and it was scary.

If the coconut was green—a delicacy only to be had on trips to Trinidad—he would hold it in his palm and level its head with the cutlass in a smooth slicing motion. Or, he might take angular chops around the crown.

The purpose of either method cut was to create an opening large enough to pour out the sweet young coconut water, which is said to have high nutritional value, especially for pregnant women with morning sickness. After the water is drained, the coconut jelly is scooped out and eaten with a spoon fashioned from the chopped shell. This jelly is what hardens into the white coconut flesh as the fruit ages.

If the coconut was already aged, removing it from the green outer husk required deep slashes with the cutlass and then enormous strength to peel away the skin. In the States we only got dry, husked coconuts—if we were lucky—in the supermarket, but more often on a trip to the Caribbean neighborhoods of Brooklyn and Queens. Today, both green coconuts and dry coconuts are readily available in many gourmet supermarkets.

To crack a dry coconut, my father again pulled out that cutlass. He held the coconut in one hand and whacked down on it with the cutlass held in the other. Every time he did this, I was sure he would cut himself, or worse, cut off his hand. He never did. Wielding a cutlass is a talent that Trinidadians seem to manage with aplomb.

I myself am far too afraid to have anything to do with cutlasses, machetes, or butcher knives screaming toward objects held in my opposite hand--so I’ve developed my own method for draining and cracking coconuts.

Dry coconuts have three “eyes,” one of which is always soft and easily pierced with a paring knife. Sometimes a second eye can be pierced as well, but this is less often the case. Once the eye is pierced, I invert the coconut onto a heavy glass or pitcher that can prop up the fruit while catching the draining liquid. I reserve this water for flavorings in breads and sauces.

To crack the coconut, I leave it in a 400°F degree oven until the heat cracks the hard shell. Granted, this does change the flavor of the coconut a bit, but it is fine for baked goods since the grated coconut will be cooked anyway.

When whole coconuts can’t be had, I opt for packaged, unsweetened shredded coconut—fresh-frozen is better than dry and is easily found in Middle Eastern, Indian, and Caribbean markets. Coconut water is also available canned. Goya is one popular brand.