How to cut and consume coconut at home

In order to get pleasure from coconut, you will have to "tinker" with it. This option often becomes intimidating for exotic fruit lovers. But if you know a few secrets, this process will not take much time.

Description of coconut and what they do with it

This type of nut grows on a coconut tree. Oddly enough, but the tree comes from the "palm" family. It also has one more name - arec. It is the only member of the cocos genus. It reaches a height of thirty meters, the girth of the trunk is up to half a meter. Lateral branches are absent, the leaves are at the very top, as if collected in a ponytail.

Many believed that the closest relative of the coconut is the banana. In fact, this is not the case. Its closest relative is the date.

The coconut tree blooms with cute panicles that are made up of small coconuts. Initially, they appear as small flowers with a light yellow tint. One such broom can be up to a meter in length.

The palm tree has a beautiful view, on which the coconut is already ripe. They are called drupes, not nuts, as has always been thought. This is due to the fact that this product is more similar in structure to a peach, cherry or plum, but not a walnut or hazelnut.

The fruit has impressive dimensions. Length from fifteen to thirty centimeters, weight reaches two and a half kilograms. The shape is divided into three types: oval, oblong and round. The top is covered with a fibrous shell with fine villi, under the bottom - a hard shell. Under it is white pulp, covered with cloudy milk.

Coconut is used in a variety of desserts. Most often it serves as a decoration. Thanks to new technologies, the chips acquire a different color. The cake gets brighter. It is also added to the dough. Thanks to this, it is not only fragrant, but also satisfying and tender.

Note! Products made from coconut and the fruit itself do not have any contraindications. There may be an exception - an individual intolerance to some component contained in it.

In addition to cooking, coconut is used in cosmetic oil. The skin becomes soft and elastic. It saves her from the sun's rays, her hair becomes thick and strong.

How to open a coconut at home

Many are wondering how to open a coconut at home. The task, though not simple, but doable. The first stage is the extraction of coconut milk. It is a liquid, sweet in taste, released from the ripe pulp of the fruit.

In order to understand how to break the coconut correctly (so that the milk does not flow out), you need to have an idea of ​​several secrets:

• Three eyes should be found on the surface of the coconut.One should open on its own, the other two are picked out with a screwdriver or any other convenient tool. You can also simply drill them. Having found the peephole, which is real, pierce it with a sharp knife. It is desirable to widen the hole to the maximum.
• Drain the coconut milk through the hole. If it flows poorly or slowly, it is recommended to make a few more holes in the other eyes.
• After the liquid is completely glass, it is frozen, or immediately drunk. You can also use it in cooking: bake a cake or add to a salad. If you want to drink the juice right away, then it is advised to insert a straw into the drilled holes, and not pour out the milk.

How to cut a coconut

Now you can proceed to the instructions on how to chop a coconut to get to the pulp, at home. To do this, follow these steps:

• Look at the surface of the shell. Along the circumference, it has a continuous line that looks like an equator. The coconut should be held over the sink and tapped with a hammer directly on this line. This should cause the nut to crack.
• If it does not work out, it is advised to draw a crack with a knife. There is no need to push hard. After this process, the fruit will precisely split into two parts.
• If the stage with the extraction of liquid was skipped, then after opening the glass should be substituted and the milk poured into it.
• Both halves must be rinsed under water so that the flesh is without shell residues.

To extract the pulp, cut it into strips with a sharp knife. Then you can use a regular spoon. It is eaten neat, added to salad and dessert. Coconut flakes are not prepared from - just grate. You can also just mix it with condensed milk and eat it just like that.

Additional Information! If after all the efforts it was not possible to open the coconut, you can apply a special life hack. Preheat the oven to 200 degrees, place the coconut inside. Wait no more than fifteen minutes. Take out, cool. The rind is now softer and easier to split.

How to drink coconut

As mentioned above, the liquid can be drained through the holes made or drunk directly through a straw. Everyone used to call her coconut milk. In fact, this is not the case. It needs to be prepared. This is done very simply: the coconut flakes are poured with boiling water (the ratio is one to two). Leave the mixture for about half an hour. Then the mass is whipped with a blender and wrung out with gauze or bandage. Sauces, cocktails and soups are prepared on its basis. For example, Thai coconut chicken soup. It cooks very quickly, it turns out tasty and healthy.

Required components:

• a liter of chicken broth;
• two hundred grams of fillet;
• one chili (cut in half, completely clear of seeds);
• a few lime leaves;
• ginger root;
• seven and a half lemongrass sticks;
• eight feathers of green onions;
• salt, spices to taste;
• one-fourth tablespoon of chili puree;
• one hundred twenty milliliters of coconut milk.

Pour the broth into a saucepan. Add fillet, lemongrass, lime, ginger and chili. Bring to a boil, reduce heat, cover, cook for about half an hour. Then take out the chicken, cut into thin slices. Strain the broth. Return it to the pot, boil it. Sprinkle with coconut milk and green onions. Cook for about ten minutes.Add chili puree, salt, spices. Garnish with coriander leaves when serving.

How to eat coconut

You can eat coconut in different ways: freeze it, whole, or make milk from it. One of the most relevant options is Rafaello sweets. For them, you need one hundred and fifty grams of sugar, one hundred twenty-five grams of butter, two hundred grams of coconut, two hundred and fifty grams of milk powder, one hundred milliliters of water and half a glass of walnuts.

Pour water into a saucepan, add one hundred grams of sugar to it, stir and put on fire. Add oil gradually. Boil until the mixture is smooth. Remove from heat, cool. Combine coconut flakes with milk powder. Mix all. Refrigerate for four hours. Blind circles from the resulting mass, place nuts inside and sprinkle with coconut shavings.

Another option is coconut cake. The dough needs the following ingredients:

• one hundred milliliters of water;
• a small pinch of salt;
• twenty grams of granulated sugar;
• two hundred and fifty grams of wheat flour;
• one eighth of a pack of butter.

The filling is prepared from two eggs (only protein is taken), one fourth of a packet of butter, one hundred grams of coconut flakes, eighty grams of sugar and two tablespoons of liquor.

Take all components for the test. Mix them into a homogeneous elastic mass. Put in the refrigerator for half an hour. At this time, beat the whites until firm peaks. In a separate bowl, stir in melted butter, sugar and coconut. Pour in the liquor and mix again. Roll out the dough, make small sides. Put it in a mold, previously covered with parchment paper and oiled. Cover with cling film.

The cake is baked for fifteen minutes in an oven preheated to one hundred and eighty degrees. Gently mix the whipped egg whites with the coconut oil base. After fifteen minutes, the cake gets out, the cling film is removed, the filling is laid out and again put in the oven for half an hour, the temperature remains the same.

Important! Low calorie coconut milk - 19 kilocalories. The coconut itself is high in calories. Overweight people are better off not abusing them. There are such contraindications as hyperthyroidism. The components it contains may affect its performance.

When choosing a coconut, it is recommended to pay attention to its appearance and sound. It should be completely free of cracks, make a gurgling sound. Otherwise, the fruit is not suitable for consumption.

VIDEO: How to open a coconut at home with your own hands.