Fresh Coconut meat

[asisis]

I am looking for a source of fresh coconut meat that I can purchase locally. I do not want to be opening up the nuts myself. I know it is available at the Wednesday market in small containers. I need more than that.

[dcstroker]

Well you could probably take your own container for how much you need and have them fill it.

[CHILLIN]

I was very disappointed in the market coconut. It had a slimy and limp texture and only a very faint taste of coconut. I surmise that it was green/young coconut. I have to check when is the season for fully mature coconuts - does anyone know?

[More Liana]

I have almost never seen mature coconuts--I assume you're talking about the hairy brown hard ones. I do see coconut meat in large strips at the fruit stands--there used to be (and may still be) a stand on the carretera near Farmacia Guadalajara where I bought them in big plastic cups.

[Travis]

The coconut vendors at the Tianguis and elsewhere sell both the "limp" meat, and also firmer texture. You just need to specify which you want.

[MtnMama]

The coconut vendor at the Tuesday Farmer's Market has LOTS of fresh coconuts he will cut up as you wait. I've never found his to be slimy.

[RVGRINGO]

Fresh coconuts are green and full of delicious refreshing water. Old dead coconuts, called copra, are used for making coconut oil, coconut milk, and for making soap and cosmetic products, etc. Polynesians do not generally eat the solid white of the copra and snicker when told that we do. They do grate it, but squeeze it or cook it.

[ComputerGuy]

Yeah, the hairy shrivelled brown things we get up in Canada are the absolutely dead version of the fresh young cocos here. I didn't even know that until I came here. By then, the water has changed into a milky substance. I actually prefer the fresh coco water, here, chilled. When you open a coco, there is a slimy coating to the meat; kinda like snot. Some people love this most-tasty stuff. After you slurp that up, the white meat is perfectly coconutty to me.

[CHILLIN]

The green coconut juice might be refreshing, and healthy, especially in an area where clear, sweet water was not reliably available. But I can't figure out a single use for the green meat - it simply has no flavor. It is slimy, it WAS purchased from Tuesday Market, and everybody else I know who has bought it has ended up throwing it out. The only recipes I found require the addition of coconut milk or cream The Polynesians will be doing a lot of "snickering" if they found out how popular the taste of ripe, mature coconut is in India (and throughout South Asia), S.E. Asia, Europe, the U.S.A. and Canada.

Maybe I'll give green coconut another chance, but the pieces I tried were not worth it. If I tried it before I bought it, I would not have bothered.

The big trouble with getting mature coconut meat is avoiding the brown "skin". For this they use a variety of "coconut graters" - from electric to manual. For milk or cream it is often filtered.

[cedros]

I agree with you Chillin. The meat in the green coconuts is awful. I much prefer the meat in the fresh brown hairy ones (it is silly to call them dead as they certainly aren't as that as they are no longer green but ripe. It is what young palms grow from). In my previous house in Mexico I had 9 coconut trees in my yard. It was a real treat to wait for the brown cocos to fall. Once I split them open I had to fight off my dogs for the meat. I asked visitors from the coast to bring me a brown one but all they could find was a green one-ugh.

I don't know why they don't sell the brown ones here as I don't think I would be the only one to buy them.

[afgh]

I saw it at Walmarts yesterday in packages.

[ComputerGuy]

To me, they are dead, and truly the main reason you won't find them here. The meat from a young coconut is traditionally chopped, and sold in plastic bags on street corners, along with judicious sprinkles of rock salt, limon, and even hot sauce. I find it dee-lishus and can no longer enjoy the brown dead ones.

[Studio del Sol]

You people are putting me off coconut. Having a hard time getting beyond "snot."

[alex45920]

Try the coconut guy at the est end of the Chapala malecon. You'll find him under the tree where the mariachis hang out. He'll chop 'em up for you while you wait.

[lindady]

Learn more about coconut and all the health benefits here: http://www.coconutresearchcenter.org/index.htm

The guy at the Tuesday Organic Market who sells coconut water and meat from young coconuts, also sells at Wednesday Tianguis. The meat from the young coconut can be soft and gelatinous, or soft to medium hard meat or harder. With the soft gelatinous meat I blend it in a blender and then use it to make a delicious coconut curry sauce for salmon. I add to it, fish sauce, lime juice and sugar, sauteed red and yellow peppers, red onions,and simmer it 10-15 minutes, and at last minute sliced mango. Others use this soft meat in smoothies and there are recipes for puddings.

The soft gelatinous coconut meat is fed to babies after they finish breastfeeding in some countries.

[ComputerGuy]

I like the sounds of your recipe, lindady... thanks.

[Orygun Duck]

Could someone explain the difference between coconut water and coconut milk. Where would I get the latter locally? Thanks.

[ComputerGuy]

Coconut water is found inside the coconut, and coconut milk is apparently made from the mashed coconut. In my experience, though, the old brown hairy cocos have a very milky liquid, unlike the green ones with the clear water. Coco milk that one purchases in a carton or can is definitely "milkier" looking and made by boiling the meat with water, or pressing the pulp, depending on which web site you research.

I asked about where to buy coco milk a few months back, and ended up discovering it in many stores, like WalMart, El Torito, and so on. Then there is coconut cream purchased the same way, and sweetened cream of coconut.

[CHILLIN]

Coconut milk tastes like coconut. Coconut water tastes like water - or worse, according to this Huffington review of the top brands.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/06/07/the-best-coconut-water_n_3398797.html

The cans/bottles cost about $10 U.S. each. The small, green coconuts are about $3 U.S. each - they throw the empty nuts away. It's a hipster product which is supposed to be good for you. The only benefit I see is the empty nuts go in the organic compost heap (you are composting your organics - right?), rather than plastic water bottles to the landfill. NPR recently did a story on coconut water.

http://www.npr.org/blogs/thesalt/2012/06/18/155115477/is-the-coconut-water-craze-all-its-cracked-up-to-be

[ComputerGuy]

It's true that coconut water is being touted as the next great drink, but the coco water here definitely does not taste like plain water... does one assume Huff is playing with us again? On the other hand, with bottled water costing more than gas up north, one can see the attraction for profiteering. The coco milk here costs between 14 and 20 pesos. And on the highway to the coast, in coconut land, you can get large green cocos for as little as 3 pesos in the thick of it... one of my fave reasons to live here.

[Islander]

Obviously one will not drive 300 miles to buy coconut or two but yes, one has to know where to shop. Not in Ajijc though and especially not in Superlake.

I will have to try that coconut-curry sauce Lindady, for my salmon today. Sounds good. Thanks for mentioning it.

[lindady]

I like the coconut water from the green (young) coconut, especially when chilled. When I run out of it (I buy a jar of it at Tianguis or Organic Market) after a few days, and want more, it is available in small containers in Super Lake. I put them in fridge to chill and one brand I bought tasted pretty similar to the fresh water. Fresh coconut water (from a young green one) is healthy and was even used in WWII in emergency transfusions to soldiers injured far from a clinic or any health care, as it is similar to plasma.

Here is a scientific study: http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/20032881

Abstract

Coconut water (coconut liquid endosperm), with its many applications, is one of the world's most versatile natural product. This refreshing beverage is consumed worldwide as it is nutritious and beneficial for health. There is increasing scientific evidence that supports the role of coconut water in health and medicinal applications. Coconut water is traditionally used as a growth supplement in plant tissue culture/micropropagation. The wide applications of coconut water can be justified by its unique chemical composition of sugars, vitamins, minerals, amino acids and phytohormones. This review attempts to summarise and evaluate the chemical composition and biological properties of coconut water.

[lindady]

I like the coconut water from the green (young) coconut, especially when chilled. When I run out of it (I buy a jar of it at Tianguis or Organic Market) after a few days, and want more, it is available in small containers in Super Lake. I put them in fridge to chill and one brand I bought tasted pretty similar to the fresh water. Fresh coconut water (from a young green one) is healthy and was even used in WWII in emergency transfusions to soldiers injured far from a clinic or any health care, as it is similar to plasma.

Here is a scientific study: http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/20032881

Abstract

Coconut water (coconut liquid endosperm), with its many applications, is one of the world's most versatile natural product. This refreshing beverage is consumed worldwide as it is nutritious and beneficial for health. There is increasing scientific evidence that supports the role of coconut water in health and medicinal applications. Coconut water is traditionally used as a growth supplement in plant tissue culture/micropropagation. The wide applications of coconut water can be justified by its unique chemical composition of sugars, vitamins, minerals, amino acids and phytohormones. This review attempts to summarise and evaluate the chemical composition and biological properties of coconut water.