Bad Coconut?
I just bought my first case (9 ct) of Young Thai Coconuts. The first one I drained had about 10 oz of brown tinged juice and there wasn’t any meat left in it. It didn’t smell bad, but it definitely smelled and tasted different than the other juice, so I assumed this was a bad or old coconut and tossed the juice. The rest all had mostly ‘clear’ juice (kind of had a yellowish tinge, but much lighter than the ‘bad’ coconut and tasted sweeter) and averaged about 12 oz juice each and 1/2 cup meat each. The thickness of the meat varied on each coconut from pretty thin to maybe 1/8 to 1/4 inch thick, and the thinner stuff was kind of gelatinous and the thicker was more like tough slimy cooked egg white (yum!). These coconuts were also very cold, borderline frozen, so I don’t know if that affected them badly. Since this is my first foray into using fresh Thai coconuts I’m wondering what the juice and meat is supposed to be like? Does it vary from coconut to coconut, or are there certain things I should beware of? I’m excited to try some of the 12 step recipes using the meat but that bad one I opened kind of spooked me and I want to be sure the rest are okay to use. Also, how long would this juice last in the fridge? I froze about half and put the rest in a pitcher in the fridge to use in Hot Pink Breakfast Smoothies, but I wasn’t sure how long it would be okay in the fridge. One last question-has anyone used any kind of power tool to cut the coconut in half after the juice has been drained? I cracked them by beating them on concrete while inside a plastic bag, which was kind of messy for me, but my hubbie has tons of power tools and I’m wondering if one would work…. 
TIA!
Marisa
I used to buy the coconuts fresh but I kept having this problem and didn’t want to have to keep returning to the store, getting a new one and then hoping the new coconut wasn’t spoiled. But at the asian food store here they sell frozen young Thai coconut meat in bags and so I was all over that! Now I have it in the freezer to use whenever I like! It is unfortunate that I don’t have the liquid that buying a fresh one would give but I at least have the meat!
I don’t know about the brown tinged one, but your other ones sound perfectly normal. Just wait until you get a purple/pink one. In some young coconuts, the flesh is PURPLE and the liquid PINK. Some websites say it’s safe to eat these, but I don’t trust them.
The meat increases as the coconut ages, so the ones with less meat are younger. The darker water with little meat is very young… And yes, it does vary from coconut to coconut, and you can’t tell by looking at them. Here is a link to a video for easy opening of the coconut — I have been doing this for over two years and it works well every time.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8ZquDvW9X_U
No need to get violent with the young coconuts. They are fairly soft and easy to get into.
Have fun with it…
Donna
I have wondered the same things.
Also, what is in canned coconut milk? Is it thick because the meat has been pureed? I am trying to avoid those that have thickeners, but haven’t found any without preservatives and water added. Any suggestions?
I would use a dremel’s reinforced separating disk. I cut steel with this so i’m sure it will cut thru young thai coconuts.
Hi Marisa!
I buy cases all the time of young coconuts all the time so I’ll try to be some help here.
I’d say there is always at least one that has the thin pinkish slimy flesh with the rest. It’s prefectly fine to eat. The flesh does vary with each one. Some thicker fleshed than others.
I’ve only had one bad case and you’ll definitely know that something is wrong. The water was slimy and thick. If it tastes a bit off then dump it. What I do is process all 9 coconuts at ones. I freeze the flesh in one cup incriments and freeze the water in 1 quart mason jars. (put 2 jars in a 1 gallon freezer bag in case of a breakage) and make sure to leave a couple inches of headroom.
The coconut water lasts a considerable long time in the fridge. I’ve forgotten about some and 12 days later it was still good.
The best way that I’ve found to open them up is with a big cleaver. I got a farberware one at walmart for 5 bucks. It’s pretty good for this job. Setting the coconut on its side give it one or two good thwacks and the water will start leaking out. At that point I pour the water into a bowl, then a pitcher. I pour it into a bowl first to make sure it’s good before I dump into the pitcher (same as you would do with eggs..not to infect the rest if one is bad)
There are some good vids on opening up coconuts on youtube. Some dumb ideas too. It’s really not hard once you get the hang of it. I’m not sure power tools would be as efficient..although a big drill would be nice to get the water out first before anything to avoid the mess that could happen with the coconut water. If you decide to use the drill then drill it from the top (pointy end). I think I like the drill idea!
Good luck.
Jennifer
Hi Tia,
I have also had some bad coconuts. I have probably cracked open about a hundred in the last year or so and have a much better idea of what to look for now than I did when I first started. I don’t use coconuts when the liquid is purplish in colour. I think the coconuts are good if the liquid is clear and the meat is white. The purplish ones smell and taste funny to me.
My husband takes a cordless drill and makes a hole on the top of the coconut. Then he rests the coconut over a container and makes a secondary hole to allow for quicker drainage. Once the liquid is drained, he uses a hatchet to crack them open. I have used a sledge hammer in the past but found that I shattered many coconuts and the meat was hard to get out. We drain all the coconuts at once and then freeze the liquid and meat for later use.
You have to try the raw chocolate cheesecake in Robyn’s treats recipe collection. That has been an absolute sensation in my family!
Hope that helps!
Darlene
Hi Marisa, I’ve opened hundreds of them and have only extremely rarely opened a “bad” one. The way to tell if it’s fresh is to sip the liquid.
The meat varies widely–thin, pink, very soft flesh, to much thicker, white, harder flesh.
I get an average of 12 oz. of juice, too–and that’s exactly how much Hot Pink Smoothie calls for. If I have a bit extra, I put it in a pint jar in my fridge, so that in the next couple of days, if I have a coconut come up short on the liquid I need, I’ve got the extra to add to it.
Thank you for all the good tips. It’s a relief to know that you don’t encounter bad coconuts very often because it’s a bit of a drive for me to get them and I didn’t want to be playing Russian Roulette with every case. I think I will definitely give the cordless drill a try and I’m toying with the idea of trying hubbies mitre saw to cut them in half (hubbie said he was willing to try it). I figure if I process a couple cases at once it might be worth breaking out the power tools. Hopefully there won’t be coconuts flying out of our garage!
Also, I wanted to say that I made the Vegan Carrot Cake Muffins and Effortless Peanut Butter Cookies from the Holiday Recipe Collection. Both were a hit with my family, especially my husband. He’s a UPS driver and has a pretty brutal schedule this time of year. Most days he doesn’t have time for a sit down lunch so it’s a bit of a challenge to pack him nutritious lunches that he can eat on the fly. The muffins and cookies have been a nice treat for him to be able to eat on the run.
Thanks Robyn!
Marisa
I haven’t tried any young coconuts yet, but I use an ice pick to drain the mature coconuts. Using a hammer, I hammer the ice pick into the eyes of the coconut. You need at least two holes, so one will let air in so the coconut will drain quickly. I don’t see why it wouldn’t work just as well on a young coconut.
wondering if i can use the hair brown coconuts i see at walmart or the local supermarket? it’s quite a hike for me to go buy young thai ones and a little costly too…so is it possible to use these more common ones? thanks
oops… i really need a smoothie right now! i meant to write ‘brown hairy coconuts’…
Any word on canned coconut?
some notes to some folks
don’t use the brown ones… they are oily and totally different than young coconut…. prepare to get spit it out if you drink it…
also,
coconut milk is made from boiling coconut meat and juicing the results… not the same as coconut water.
I recently bought coconuts- the small brown hairy type – took the meat out and stored it in the fridge for about 4 days. The coconut meat now has a slimy feeling on top, I’m wondering if it’s gone bad.
Does anyone know how long coconut meat can be stored in the fridge? And,
what are the signs that the coconut meat has gone bad?
I buy the big hairy brown ones. I crack them open on the side walk. One was baaaaaaddddd! I cracked it and the shell came off leaving the hollow meat ball. It was covered in brown and grey mold and I cracked the meat ball thing and juice that smelled like beans from the backside came out. It was murky dark and brown and the inside meat was dry,wrinkly,and brown and smelled like beer. (.:)
I just bought my first two coconuts. I poked holes in the eyes and drained the water, then I used a hammer, as I seen it done on Youtube, to crack the coconut open. It wasn’t as easy as it looked on Youtube. When it finally cracked, the whole white coconut totally separated from the shell and had some yellow and pink spots and lots of black spots on it. Is this the sign of a bad coconut? Really need to know. Thanks.
June, well, that doesn’t sound good. I haven’t seen this. A slightly lavendar tinge to the coconut itself is normal. If you bought coconuts that have been sitting around forever, never fear: talk to an Asian store who gets weekly shipments, and just get your case from them, where you have more certainty about it being fresh.