Harvesting Coconuts

[T_Dog]

Here in Thailand you get to have these experiences you never imagined in a previous life. For me yesterday it was harvesting my first couple of coconuts from the coconut palms in our back yard. The nectar inside the inner nut was fantastic, but it took me a long time to get to that inner nut. So some questions:

1. How do you tell when a coconut up in the tree is ready to be harvested? The ones I have are all green. Do you just pick a big one?

2. The outer flesh is really strong and fiberous. What is the best way to get it off? (I cut slits with my bush knife and then peeled out the segments. There must be a faster way!)

3. Why can you hear the nectar when you shake some coconuts but not in others?

The inner nut is easy to get into with four quick whacks of the knife, but getting to that point is where my questions are. I know some of you are experts here and am anxious to hear from you! All help appreciated.

[rice555]

Hello T_Dog, get a monkey to pick the ripe ones .

The wife does the choosing of which one to get down, if it to young, you just drink the juice and spoon out the soft young flesh. If it's ripe you have some juice and the meat is firm. If you shake it and you don't hear the sloshing sound, it's old.

The knife's in the pictures are the ones to use, with the nut on it's side, stem side a way from you, you cut and twist working your way around the nut. You don't need to cut off the husk with each cut, but just loosen it. This husk is from last week.

rice555

[T_Dog]

Thanks for that, as the info helps. Am getting a lot faster after some practice. The ripe ones are definitely easier than the green ones, but the green ones do have soft meat which is quite tasty.

On another note, a friend told me that you can roast the inner nut when it is still intact for a different flavor. Have you ever tried that? I might put on on the BBQ tomorrow to see what happens.