"You put da lime in da coconut, and drink it all up..."

Ever heard of a young Thai coconut?  Unless you're a vegan, or raw, you probably haven't.  Every time I start researching recipes, I find one that looks amazing...and then discover one of its ingredients is a young Thai coconut.  I immediately feel defeated thinking there's no way I'm ever going to find a young Thai coconut in a grocery store.  I eventually grew a prejudice against this weird beast of an ingredient...that is until I came across two at Central Market the other day (*side note* I also saw a bunch at Whole Foods this week, too)!  Know what's even better?!...the guy couldn't get them to ring up on the register, so he just gave them to me for free!  I was so pumped, I almost pee'd in my pants.

So, now I've got these two free young Thai coconuts, know I want to make ice cream out of them, but thinking about tackling these babies has me scared to death.  I've already prepared myself for the moment when I have to call Jim-Dawg (my dad) to come over with all his wacky gadgets and tools to get these suckers open for me!  I can hear him now..."Ka-larr, what kind of dumb ass buys some stoooopid coconuts shaped like a f'ing space ship they can't even open without havin' a chain saw in their kitchen?!  I'm tellin' ya right now, I am never comin' over to do this again.  You girls (my sister and mom) can be the biggest pain in my ass..."

Oh, Jim-dawg, have no fear...YouTube will save me!  And, it did.  Honestly, I was a little sad to have missed another Jim-dawg moment to add to the books.

The Scary Young Thai Coconut!

Does this look like a coconut to you?!  Apparently, there's a baby coconut in there.  To achieve this, YouTube says I need to slice off some of the top outer layer at an angle so I can access the top of the baby coconut hidden in there.  My chef's knife and I go at it...

Surprisingly, the outer layer is woody, but also sort of soft and spongy.  It was not difficult to shave off...because my knives are bad ass (duh!).

As you can see, there's the bebe.  Now, the actual coconut IS hard and woody, so you don't have to worry about slipping, and cutting into the actual coconut.  Your knife will stop when it hits it.

At this point, take the edge of your knife, and towards the top strike the coconut continuously around the edge.  At this point, I had coconut water splattering all over my face and kitchen.  The next coconut I killed, I made a little hole in the seam I was making with my knife, and poured some of the water out, and then finished the job.

Once you've stabbed the coconut around the top, take your knife tip and try to start prying the top off.  Seriously, it sounds harder than it is.

Voila!  There you have it...a successfully massacred young Thai coconut.  You can see I've poured the water into a container, and have used a spoon to scoop all the coconut meat from the lid and inside walls.  The meat is soft, and jelly-like.  It is used to make some fantastic recipes, including some awesome raw dairy-free ice cream!  Which is exactly what I did...

If you ever get the urge to buy some young Thai coconuts, I stole Heathy's ice cream recipe, and it is a jewel!

What to do with the water, you ask?  I poured mine into ice cube trays, froze 'em, and blend a few in my green smoothies every morning.  Coconut water is awesome for you!  Read more about it here.

Young Thai Coconuts?  They're worth it,

Claire