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Coconuts: A-Z | Boholistic Mom

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Inside The Coconut

Coconuts are filled with beneficial commodities.  Coconut fat (often labeled as raw virgin organic coconut oil) is a medium-chain triglyceride, which means it is a special type saturated fat.  According to a study done in 1983, these same medium-chain triglycerides had rats loosing fat deposits in the lab.1  In 2004, a study in India found that Virgin Coconut Oil decreased the total cholesterol, triglycerides, phospholipids, LDL, and VLDL cholesterol levels and increased HDL cholesterol.2 Aka, coconut oil helped the body maintain the good cholesterol and decrease the bad cholesterol.  Also, unlike other oils frequently used in the USA, a study performed in India shows that coconut oil has no correlation with coronary heart diseases.  This fat is not a contributor to heart disease, so if you are watching out for your heart or your husband’s heart, this oil will help you remain heart healthy.

The coconut oil, meat, and milk will help you stay healthy and make amazing dishes.  Read on to find out how to pull a coconut apart on your own!

Coconut Collaboration

I was able to team up on this post with a friend of mine who moved to Guam.  Erena is much more experienced with coconuts than I will probably ever be!  So I asked her how she choses her coconuts, cracks her coconuts, and also how she uses her coconuts.  Here’s what she had to say!

How Do You Choose a Good Coconut?

A green coconut usually means the coconut hasn’t formed and is soft.  People usually get the green ones for its “foam” and the coconut water since it tends to be sweeter.  A brown coconut is always best for flour, milk, and oil. When picking a coconut, I shake it to make sure there is milk in it. If there isn’t I throw it away and I don’t waste my time with it.

Boholistic Mom note: If there doesn’t sound like there is any water inside of the coconut, this can tell you that the coconut is older and that the milk has dried up or that the milk leaked out and is no longer good.

How Do You Crack a Coconut?

This is the hardest part. I use an axe and split it in half! I don’t bother husking it. Husking it is interesting and I have done with a hammer. Once I used a hoe.

How Do You Empty a Coconut?

The hardest part about it all is getting the meat out of the coconut; I found a cake spatula works the best.  It is still not easy.  I do it while the kids are napping and 14 coconuts didn’t take me that long.

How Do You Milk a Coconut?

It is EASY! Get the meat, put it in your vitamix (1 Cup of Coconut to 2 Cups Water) and blend it for about 30 seconds. Strain it with a cheese cloth and you have coconut milk.

How to: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bUsxa-igAF0

How Do You Make Coconut Flour?

After you strain your coconut milk with the cheese cloth, gather the extra meat and put it in a dehydrator for about 2 hours.  Blend it again in the Vitamix and you get coconut flour!  EASY!

How Do You Make Coconut Oil?

After making the coconut milk, you have the option of extracting the coconut oil from the coconut milk.  You let the milk sit overnight ( I wait 24 hours).  The fat will rise to the top, scrape it off, boil it for a few hours, and voila you get coconut oil!  I strain it once more to get all the brown crusties out.  I made 24 ounces from 14 coconuts plus about 8 cups of flour by putting the meat in the dehydrator.

How to: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bsqdHKGgybs

Any Questions?

If you have any questions for Boholistic Mom or for Erena, feel free to comment below and one of us will certainly answer your questions!  I hope you now know a little bit more about coconuts!  I know I do!

Sources

1. http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/6849272, http://ajcn.nutrition.org/content/37/1/1.long – Lessening of fat deposits from medium-chain triglyceride

2. http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0009912004001201 – Virgin Coconut Oil decreased the total cholesterol, triglycerides, phospholipids, LDL, and VLDL cholesterol levels and increased HDL cholesterol.

3. http://www.livestrong.com/article/352244-health-nutrition-benefits-of-raw-coconut-meat/

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/9316363 – Coconut Oil has no correlation with coronary heart disease.

https://www2.aus.edu/admin/wellness/documents/HEALTHBENEFITSOFCOCONUTOIL2_000.pdf – Health Benefits of Coconut Oil

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