With L.’s help we gathered 5 coconuts and I set them on the deck to dry. Since today was such a dreary, gray day I knit a great deal on THE sweater and then when fingers were tired and L. was reading I decided it was time to open a coconut. I managed to pound a hole with a screwdriver into the coconut and drain the coconut milk, actually a clear, very sweet liquid, then I began the process of trying to crack the coconut. Well, it took about an hour and L. had to help as I was not strong enough. First I roasted the coconut over the grill for about 10 minutes (it’s supposed to be put in an oven for 25 minutes) so that supposedly when you open the coconut the meat falls from the outer shell. Well, it wasn’t a great success! But we managed to get all the coconut meat out and I was left with about a cup and a half of chunks of coconut meat. I cleaned, and then froze until I will grate it for a recipe I found in Bon Appetit for Sweet Potatoes with coconut. It also has loads of spices: cumin, turmeric, cayenne pepper, mustard seeds, Serrano peppers and also kidney beans! We’ll see, it is on the menu for tomorrow night!!! Well, if we ever get marooned on an island, hopefully it will have coconut trees, we’ll have something to eat! ;)
Elaine