How to Crack a Coconut: 3 Easy Steps

Coconuts are both delicious and healthy, but opening them, if you aren’t familiar with the proper technique, is always quite a challenge. The process itself isn’t that difficult, and 5-Minute Crafts is ready to show you how to open a coconut without any trouble.

Tools

To crack a coconut open, you’ll need:

• a screwdriver
• a hammer
• a butcher knife
• a butter knife
• a vegetable peeler
• a Ziploc bag
• a bowl for coconut water
• a spoon

Step 1. Drain the coconut

1. Start with locating the 3 “eyes,” which can be found at the stem end of the coconut.
2. Lightly poke all the eyes of the coconut with a screwdriver and find the softest one. Then pierce it with this tool, making a hole. If the coconut shell is too firm, you can tap the end of the screwdriver with a hammer.
3. Once you got the screwdriver inside the coconut, rotate it to make the hole wider.
4. After the coconut is open, drain the coconut water into a bowl.

Step 2. Crack the coconut open

Note: You can take a plastic Ziploc bag and put the coconut in it. This tip will help prevent the coconut from rolling too much when you crack it.

1. Put the coconut on a cutting board and get a butcher knife or a hammer.
2. Firmly hold the coconut at one of its ends with your hand and hit its middle part along the imaginary “equator” line with the blunt side of the knife or a hammer. Rotate the coconut. Be very careful not to hit your fingers!
3. Repeat the process until the coconut cracks in the middle. Then use your hands or a tool, like a screwdriver, to separate the parts of the coconut.

Step 3. Remove the coconut meat

Coconut meat is attached to the coconut shell pretty firmly, so it may be tricky to remove it once it’s open. There are 2 ways to do this.

Method 1. Use the oven

1. Put the halves of the open coconut on a baking sheet and put them in the oven at about 400°F-480°F.
2. Bake for 15 minutes. You should see the coconut meat start to shrink.
3. Remove the coconut halves and let them cool down.
4. Take a spoon and separate the meat from the coconut shell.
5. If necessary, remove the thin brown coconut skin with a vegetable peeler.
6. Enjoy your coconut!

Method 2. Use a butter knife

1. Put one coconut half facing down on a cutting board and hit it with a hammer to break it into smaller parts.
2. Slide a butter knife under the meat to separate the meat from the shell.
3. Take a vegetable peeler and remove thin brown skin from the coconut meat using the peeler.
4. Enjoy your coconut!

Check the video for cool kitchen gadgets to cook like a pro