How to Open a Young Thai Coconut

Learning how to open a young Thai coconut takes a little bit of practice, but once you get the hang of it, you'll be cracking away in no time!!! Since these photos were taken, I started using a clever, however, as you can see, it's not absolutely necessary. 

Lay coconut on side (I'm holding knife in wrong hand to take the photo, but you get the idea). Slice the the white husk off the coconut towards the point of the coconut, leaving the hard, brown shell visible. 

Using the heel of the knife, gently poke, feeling for a soft spot.  Raising the knife up, come down fast and hard, aiming the heel edge of the knife (as seen in photo), towards the soft spot, breaking the inner shell. (Make sure your other hand is out of the way!) If you do this right, you will only need to do this once! It really does work - most of the time! 

Wedge knife into the opening you just made. The shell should crack in a nice circle. Pry it off, exposing the lovely coconut water and meat. Pour coconut water into a glass or container.  

Using handle edge of spoon, wedge it between the shell and the meat.  If you have the flexible plastic spatula that comes with the Vitamix - this tool works great for wedging between the coconut meat and shell. A spoon handle works well too. 

Slowly work the meat, separating it from the shell. 

Your coconut is now ready to use. For delicious coconut milk, simply blend the coconut water and meat together. You can add a medjool date to sweeten and a bit of vanilla extract. Enjoy! Coconut meat can be used in a variety of desserts and dishes.   

Russell James has a great video on how to do this. 

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