Island life

Then the hard part, cracking the shell to get to the meat. In the past I have used various tools the most efficient being a hammer. Since I have been unable to find a hammer at the rental house, my next choice would be a knife. Danika asked that I not use a knife since the rental owner lists opening coconuts with the knives as something she requests not be done (I figured cutting the eye open was fine, since the "eyes" aren't that hard, but the shell is quite hard and could cause damage so I elected not to use a knife). I looked around the place and didn't find anything that seemed very fitting to open them so I turned to the internet.

A quick google search came up with a couple of suggestions, the first of which being a hammer, but another said to use the back side of a heavy knife (or the edge of a counter) and hit the coconut around its equator and it will eventually (usually after about two rotations) crack open. Coconuts are pretty hard, so needless to say I was skeptical, but I figured I would give it a try. It works great! I tapped it with the back of a chef's knife (which didn't cause any damage to the knife) and after about two rotations it cracked open. I pried it the rest of the way open and the coconut flesh was mine for the taking!

I used a spoon to scoop the flesh out of the less ripe one (the flesh was still fairly soft) and a melon baller to scoop the flesh out of the other one. I got a pretty good yield, which is now in the freezer waiting to be used for the pineapple-coconut smoothies I am going to make later today. Mmm... fresh coconut... and I can't wait to wear my new coconut bikini the next time I go boogie boarding :)