Tasty Tuesday : Coconut Cracking!

For whatever reason, when I hear the word 'coconut' I instantly think of the fun Midnight Margaritas scene from the film Practical Magic. 

Ok - now that we have that bit out of the way .. My husband randomly brought home a coconut a week or so ago and I had enough of watching the poor thing sit in the fruit bowl. I went and grabbed some tools, literally, and I now sit before you, a coconut cracker.

STEP 1: There was a knot in the center bottom of the coconut that the nail went right into. Before breaking into the actual coconut, I used this hole to dump out as much of the milk as possible. The liquid filled a tiny glass. I followed the seam and began hammering away. The cap to the left fell right off soon enough, exposing the meat of the coconut.

 Step 2: I read that you could break the coconut in half and stick in the oven at 350 for about 20 minutes to soften and ease you through the rest but I skipped that. If you DO choose to put in the oven, you MUST put the 2 halves of the coconut face down. Do not put in the oven prior to letting the milk out as it may burst - not cool! Once a bit of the meat was cut out, I was able to push more off of the hard shell. I did end up having to do some more hammering to remove the rest of the meat from the shell. Once the shell is open, you only need to pry the meat away from it. There are wonderful health benefits that may be gained from eating/drinking coconut so indulge and enjoy.

Do you have coconut experience? We'd love to hear tips and so on below in our comments!