I finally found young thai coconuts at an asian market (really cheap). I’m so excited, but I don’t know what to do with the meat after I scooped it out. How do I make it into dry shredded coconut?

Don’t know about dehydrating to make shredded coconut, it as I never thought to do that with it, but I got totally addicted to young coconut milk and flesh smoothies – the best thing ever!

And there’s a recipe for samosas in which you make the samosa wrapping with coconut flesh blended with something else, can’t remember and dehydrate it in a thin layer to make the wrapping, it is lovely. And I have seen the same methid being used to make pancakes although can’t think of a recipe, would be pretty simple to improvise though I imagine.

I can only get the green ones with the thick shell, and am too nervous about using a machete to buy them!! Are yours one of the precut white diamond shaped ones or a green shell one? If you used a machete did you find it easy?

Hi Zoe: There are a bunch of tips (and video links) about how to open coconut on this thread. Hope it helps!

They were the white pointed cylindrical ones. I used a thin knife to puncture the eyes to drain out the water, then my husband used a sledge hammer to break it open and I scooped out the flesh with a spoon.

Hi Girlygirl—dried shredded coconut generally comes from the mature coconut (the round brown ones), though you can dehydrate the flesh of young coconuts too. Just dehydrate until very dry and then grate or break into pieces. But the young coconut meat is such a treat as it is that dehydrating it seems like a waste of its best property – its smooth custardy texture!

Like Zoe said, it is absolutely terrific in smoothies and it makes an amazing pudding if you blend it up with a few tablespoons of the water and whatever sweeteners and flavorings you prefer (raw cocoa powder is amazing here). Freeze the pudding in an ice cream maker and you get an incredible raw vegan ice cream.

To make the samosa wrappers, just blend the “meat” with a bit of the water (however much you need to get a pourable consistency—the flesh varies a great deal from coconut to coconut) and dehydrate on Teflex or parchment. It’s great!

Try making noodles or ravioli wrappers out of it too! It is one of the most useful and versatile fruits around—equally delicious in savory and sweet preparations.

Thanks for all the tips everyone!!! I am going to try to make a custard from it tonight.