New Discovery: Young Coconuts

Yum. Yum. Yum. Right now I'm drinking a smoothie made with the meat of the first young coconut I've ever cracked. Well, technically Nathan cracked it, because my first few whacks with our huge axe knife thing weren't strong enough.

I'd never heard of "young" coconuts before we started our raw foods experiment, but they aren't what the average person would picture. The outside looks completely different and there is no milk inside, just water and "meat".

I was amazed at the amount of water inside of the thing - about a pint glass full. The coconut water is incredibly flavorful, so much so that I'd cut it with some regular water or lots of ice, and it tasted more like hazelnut than coconut. It'd probably make an excellent drink mixer!

Then there's the meat, which is bright white thick gelatinous stuff you scrape from the inside. It can be eaten alone, used in desserts, smoothies, or dehydrated into coconut flakes. Here's the recipe for the smoothie I'm loving right now, the coconut meat adds so much depth to the flavor and makes it creamy.

Coconut Orange Banana Smoothie:
-1 banana
-1 orange
-1/2 meat of one young coconut
-4 ice cubes

Blend until smooth.

At about $1.50 per coconut that gives you 2 servings of meat and 2 servings of water, these are a pretty good deal. Go to your local asian market and see if you can find them! Here is a link about how to crack and eat coconuts.

-Kelly