Brown coconuts, unlike green coconuts, are very difficult to be opened by a knife or a machete. Therefore the best way to open a mature coconut is to make a sharp stick and use your body weight as a lever as you can see on the video above.
The top of green nuts are the softest and are more easily cut than mature nuts. Green coconuts are actually very easy to be opened by machete or smashing them with a big stone (although our famous female survivor, the Japanese Reikko Hori had serious problems in 2015 as you can see on this funny video). But the brown coconut skin is elastic and it doesn’t break easily.
On this video I took on our of our desert islands in Philippines you can see me broking the nut with a stone. But if you were really thirsty then you can take more advantages of the liquid by inserting a stick (or other probe) through the 3 eyes (it is necessary to make two holes, one to admit air, the other to emit the juice).
Mature nuts contain less liquid than green coconuts but it has a pronounced coconut taste and is quite delicious. The meat is white and almost everyone knows what it tastes like. It can be shredded and mixed with flesh into a sort of stew.
Almost every tropical desert island we offer to our clients has coconut trees. When nuts fall from the tree, they can be devoured by rats or coconut crabs, but obviously some survive, or there wouldn’t be any coconut trees on the island.
Th
e nuts that survive usually fall into debris where they are hidden or covered. When they sprout, the inside of the nut is completely filled by a white, delicious fiber called ‘cabbage’. The sprout is also edible. It makes a fine salad and it can also be mixed with flesh to add variety to the meal.
THE TECHNIQUE:
The most effective technique is to sharpen and fire harden a short, stout stick to strengthen the point. The blunt end is inserted into the ground at about a 30° angle. Hold the coconut’in both hands, eyes down. Straddle the stick with the pointed end facing away from you. Raise the nut overyour head and bring it smashing down on the point of the stick. Give the nut a twist to pry a piece of the husk away.
Repeat until satisfied.
{ 0 comments… add one now }