Last summer while wandering through an Asian grocery store, I stopped in the kitchen tools section.  I ended up buying some things that, today, I don’t think I could do without – a fine-gauge strainer, a stainless steel wok spatula, and a mesh drain catch-all.

There were also some tools at the market that I had have never seen before.

Like this coconut knife, for instance.

I am a fresh-coconut fiend.  I particularly like young coconuts.  The younger the coconut, the more water there is (up to 8 or 9 ounces) and the more jelly-like the pulp – it’s so soft you can easily scoop it out with a spoon.

Whenever I travel to a place where they are native, I indulge, drinking fresh coconut water every day.  Usually, the still-husk-covered coconuts are cut open for me with a machete or large-bladed coconut knife.  It’s not always a swift motion; often-times there is repeated hacking involved.

The coconut knife – more-manageable and with less blade to be cautious of than a machete – intrigued me.

Even though coconuts don’t grow on trees in my high desert neighborhood, the in-season cherries gave me an idea for another use for it.  So, I bought it.

It worked great as a cherry pitter, but it took me a year to use it on a coconut.

The round blade has a very sharp, serrated tip and a hollow core that opens to the side.  The blade cover has a long piece of plastic that can be inserted into the side to nudge the plugs that come from inserting the blade into a piece of fruit or puncturing a coconut shell.

The coconut I picked up last week was small, fibrous without its husk, and contained just a trace of liquid.  While it was probably mature when it was shipped, after making the journey here, it was downright a-ged.  The knife cut through the brittle husk very easily.

Simple and efficient.  The only problem: it doesn’t actually open the coconut; it just taps it so you can pour out the water.  I needed a hammer to finish the job.  All good.  The meat was crisp and tasty.

And when I can’t get fresh coconut, I look for coconut milk and water that is as close to pure as I can get.  Aroy-D is 100% coconut milk (no additives or preservatives).  The coconut water in this picture isn’t quite so pure – it has preservatives in it that I think change the flavor.  Then again, nothing is as good as fresh.

Just for Fun

Because who can resist Muppets AND catchy songs about coconuts? (Caution: Do not listen if earworms are a problem for you.)