Freshly Cracked Coconut

Desmond came over to me in the garden with a giant green coconut in hand which was bigger than his head . He had a mission. "Mommy, we have to eat this right now. Do we have a machete?" Why indeed we do, as blunt as it is, let's go get it. I was totally up for the challenge

I had no idea that cutting a coconut open was such a challenge, especially with the bluntest machete in the world. If you have never done this yourself, you might not be aware that coconuts come much larger than the brown hairy-looking ones you can get at the supermarket. That brown fiber-ey coconut lives inside the big green smooth exterior "shell" as you can see on one of the coconut trees in my back yard. They don't look big, but they are each about a soccer ball size but in football shape.

So it was me and the machete hacking, hacking, hacking. That green smooth exterior is really so fiberous and thick, you'd think that no one was ever meant to eat the darn thing in the first place. I whacked that thing so hard I made a crack and looked inside to see about 2 ounces of coconut milk. Desmond got a straw and we each had one long awaited sip. Hmmm. That was a little anti-climactic, but there was more to get. More whacking and it cracked! Yum white coconut. Not sweet like the Mounds we all eat, but tasty and crunchy. Isn't it purdy?
We shared in delight.

Des with his triumphant piece of coconut.

What fun it must have been to come home with a monster in hand and within 15 minutes, a yummy, healthy snack that we busted open ourselves. Right in our backyard!

I shall get moving towards incorporating coconut into my formulations being that I love the smell so much. Why haven't I done that yet?