How to Husk a Coconut
That beautiful tree at left graced our driveway until the landlord realized it posed a liability problem. Coconuts bouncing down our long, steep hill could cause major damage by the time they crossed the street below at a hundred miles an hour. Rather than just pick the coconuts before they fell, his solution was to cut whole tree down. A bit like cutting your head off to avoid haircuts, if you ask me. On the bright side, we found ourselves in possession of three dozen young coconuts.
First, a quick coconut anatomy lesson. They are protected by two outer layers, a fibrous yellow-green husk around a hard brown shell. Inside the hard shell is a third layer, the meat, and then a central cavity containing watery coconut milk. The "milk" at this point is not nearly as thick or rich as the canned stuff; that takes a few additional steps after extraction. A Hawaiian riddle describes the coconut layers, ʻEkolu pā a loaʻa ka wai. He aha la ia? "Three walls to get to the water, what am I?" The answer of course is ka niu.
The younger a coconut is, the softer the meat will be, the more milky liquid it will have and the better it will be for drinking. As the coconut ages, the milk is absorbed, the meat firms and it grates more easily. Our batch was right in the middle, with plenty of milk and good flesh.
If the coconuts you buy at the supermarket are brown and hard with bits of fibrous hair, then the outer husk has already been removed. Let's assume for now that it hasn't and you're trying to figure out how to get this puppy open. These football-sized nuts are tough, able to bang around on ocean currents for thousands of miles before washing up on distant sandy shores to sprout. With proper technique though, they can be opened in just a few minutes.
Method One: A Sharp, Pointy Stick
The traditional Samoan method for husking secures a strong stick in the ground, pointy end up. They jam the coconut onto the spike and work it around until the husk falls away, then poke the stick into one of the eyes to drain the liquid. Sharp objects and I don't do well together, so this method would be a recipe for disaster. The only thing I can imagine piercing is my hand.
Method Two: A Sharp, Pointy Machete
The guys at the swap meet whittle away one end of the coconut with a machete until they can lop off the end and stick a straw in the top. Three bucks gets you one, ice cold. This method sounds promising, but again we have the sharp object problem. Whacking a hard, round object with a big knife takes practice. Besides, my machete is duller than a butter knife.
Method Three: The Best (Especially for People Who Hurt Themselves on Sharp, Pointy Things)
My preferred method for husking a coconut is far more primitive yet equally effective.
Grab a young coconut in two hands, stem end facing down. Think of something you're really pissed at, then lift the coconut to shoulder height and smack it down onto the driveway. Watch out because the nut can bounce unpredictably and leave a nasty bruise. Pick the nut up, turn it around 180 degrees so that the point is facing down this time. Embrace your inner rage and hurl it at the ground. Didn't that feel good? Repeat this process, smacking alternating ends of the coconut on the ground until the outer husk splits in several spots. Ease up a little so that you don't crack the inner shell as well. Grab wedges of the outer husk and peel them away.
Now you should have a brown, hard-shelled coconut. We can do this the neat way, or the fun way. The neat way is to take a hacksaw and slice the coconut in half. Remembering my penchant for injuring myself with sharp implements, I wore heavy leather gloves while I sawed a few. It takes a while, so be patient. The only reason you'd want to hacksaw your fruit is to get two nice coconut shell bowls. (Dry them in the sun then sand them down.)
If you couldn't care less about pretty coconut bowls and just want the treasure inside, we can use the fun way: more banging. Whack the coconut against the ground again, just hard enough to crack it. Have a mixing bowl nearby and drain all the milk into it. You should then be able to work your fingers into the crack and pry the shell open. Congratulations, you're all done except for cleanup.
...now what? The milk can be strained, chilled and sipped, on it's own or mixed with other juices or rum. Scrape the meat out with a sturdy spoon and use it in recipes that call for grated coconut, or just break off chunks and chew on them. In the next few days I'll provide a recipe for thickening your own coconut milk suitable for cooking. The variations are endless.
It kinda doesn't matter what you do next. This is one of those times where the journey can be more fun than the destination... you just husked a coconut!
I really hope I don't run into you when are pissed at a coconut.
Mike, yes, you have been warned! ;-)
The coconut milk that you find canned is actually squeezed from the grated coconut "meat." The traditional tool for squeezing the milk out is a "nest" of hibiscus fibers, but these days cheesecloth is used also. You add a little water to the grated flesh then take it by handfuls with the cheesecloth (or fiber nest) and wring the milk out.
On my Mom's island, the liquid inside the coconut is fed to infants when their mother can't nurse.
P.S. In her prime, my mother could husk a coconut with the "pointy stick" method in about 30 seconds. Yeah, I didn't talk back to her much.
Not your more precise method of dealing with an island food, but sounds fun nonetheless!
Pcg, there are times for precision and subtlety, and there are times to whack a coconut against the cement with all your strength. I'll leave it up to you to decide which is which when the situation presents itself.
Thanks, I have a few young coconuts and we get them white, I guess that is the brown husk as it is outside the shell. We use the water and the meat, but when I saw we were just throwing away the rest I was like, there has to be more use to it. So I brought some home, and I hope to make some drinking cups or soup bowls out of them. I was thinking the white part that will turn brown, might be good to burn? Like a torch or something, not sure. If you have any advice on this I would greatly appreciate it. Thanks.
Joshua, I'm not sure exactly which part you're talking about that's "white". If it is the out fibrous husk, the best thing I know to do with that is shred it and use it as mulch. Inside the fibrous husk is the hard brown shell. If you cut it with a saw, you can use the halves for bowls or cups. Lining the inside of the hard shell is a think, beige membrane, then within that the meat, and finally the liquid.
joshua and others:), there's a british company that uses the outer husks for car seat filler i believe. i hear it's anti-bacterial/mold, lightweight, and renewable of course. perhaps one can use it for stuffing outdoor furniture, dog beds etc. i've seen it burning quite well in hawai'i bonfires too.
Bonfires, I like that one!
Funny, my Coconut is now sitting on the kitchen counter next to the Axe that I tried to slaughter it with. I will try the pointy stick tomorrow!
An axe? As much fun as that sound like it could be, I'm pretty sure I'd lose fingers trying that one.
We are vacationing on St. Kitts and is is really windy - enough to blow down a nice coconut. We have no sharp, dangerous instruments, but a nice concrete drive. Your method worked well, except that the inner shell cracked before we got the husk off. RUN FOR THE BOWL!!! The fresh meat is moist and nutty, much better than the grocery store kind. Thanks for the tips! (Gotta love the internet!)
Ken and Jane- Yes, sometimes it is all too easy to crack that inner shell before you're ready. I've adjusted my post above to give more caution against that. Thanks for stopping by!
Should've come to your site first. I've been trying to get the husk off by whacking it with a hammer. Not a very good idea...I guess I will try the concrete since I also don't do well with pointy sharp objects.
Amy, I tried the hammer approach long ago, but it kept glancing off at dangerous angles. I stopped before I mortally wounded myself. The concrete, in my opinion, is easiest and least likely to cause permanent damage to yourself.
I was wondering how long a cocunut stays good while in husk? I was given one by a family member who picked it up from the ground shortly after it fell from the tree. The problem I have is that was in like March and they forgot to bring it to me until recently. I can hear the liquid inside when I shake the coconut. I don't know if it is still edible or should be eaten. Does anyone know the answer to this? Thanks!
Shelly, they keep for a long time in the husk. Pop that puppy open and enjoy!
Shelley, Todd is right, coconuts last quite a long time. It's a good sign that you can still hear water sloshing inside. As the nut ages, the meat will become more dense and harder to remove, especially compared to the silky meat of a young coconut, but the taste is still fine.
Depending on the coconut, it may eventually sprout! That can be more more fun than breaking it open.
Good to know. Thanks for the info. I am excited. I hope to get a chance to open it either tomorrow or Friday. Thanks again!
i've recently gotten in to climbing coconut trees with my hands and feet (no jute or other assistance) and hand picking my coconuts.
when it comes time to husking, i enjoy the beating method, however instead of hurling the coconuts at the ground, i slam them in my hands against the corner of a rock wall or similar. I also find an easy way to remove the husk is by using a flat head screw driver and something to hit the end with (a hammer, a rock, a ratchet, what ever). place the screw driver tip near the edge of the coconut and hit it inside (be careful not to drill it in to the middle of the husk or you will pound through the inner shell!) then with your hand move it back and forth a bit to enlarge the gap. this will give you enough to rip off a layer of the husk, much like taking a slice of pizza off a pie! repeat to remove another portion. works well and results in a perfect coconut just like you buy in the store!
Hammer/Screwdriver technique for husked coconuts (no green shell):
Place the coconut on the concrete and put a philips screwdriver against the softest of the three coconut eyes, then hammer it in to create a drain or straw hole. If your goal is to drain the milk, repeat this step on another eye (two holes allow better drainage since air can escape thru the second) then pour out the milk.
Now if you want to get to the meat use your hammer and whack one of the eyes (after all these are the weak points of the shell). Once you get a crack whack a different eye to widen it. Continue whacking various points on the shell until it is crack enough for you to pull apart.
This is what I have found works best...no my only dilemma is separating the meat from the shell so that I can grate it and toast it...yum!!!! So far I use a butter knife to pry it away but it is time consuming and there is chance of injury with this method since the meat is usually stuck to the shell pretty good. Any suggestions for coconut meat removal, besides spooning it to death?