How To Open A Young Coconut

There are many opinions on how to open a young coconut. Most involve cleavers and sharp knives, which may be great for professional cooks and coconut openers but, for the novice, carry the risk of a blood-splattered kitchen. I prefer a gentler approach – here’s the safest way to open a young coconut.

1. Shave off the spongy outer coating from the bottom* of the coconut until you can locate the three eyes.
2. Use a kitchen mallet to tap a clean Phillip’s head screwdriver through each of the eyes, then a paring knife to widen the opening of the softest eye.
3. Pour the coconut water through a sieve into a bowl and set aside.
4. Shave off the spongy coating from the side of the coconut, concentrating on the widest point around the circumference.
5. Rest the coconut in the palm of one hand with the side facing up and, using the back of a cleaver or the back of a large heavy cook’s knife, strike it repeatedly along the circumference, bouncing the coconut gently in the palm of your hand to rotate it and allowing the cleaver or knife to bounce off it.
6. After several whacks the sound should change slightly indicating that the shell has split, a couple more whacks will see you able to pry it in half.
7. Rinse the inside of the coconut under cold water then pat dry.
8. To extract the young coconut flesh, loosen it with a blunt knife then pry it out in segments.
9. Peel off any remaining brown skin on the segments with a paring knife.
10. Now try this simple Indonesian es degan recipe.

*If you’ve bought a drinking coconut with a plastic device in the top to push the straw through, the eyes will be located on the top end near the device.