These homemade coconut chips are incredibly delicious, great to have on their own or sprinkled on a breakfast porridge, salad or use in healthy granola. Before to share the chips recipe in this post I am going to show you how to open a coconut. I’ve included plenty of photos so you can fully learn how to open a coconut.
What We'll Need:
1 large (or 2 small) coconuts – the furry ones
cinnamon
rock salt
all spice
How to Open a Coconut:
I used the back of the knife I had to open a coconut initially. Then I found a meat tenderiser with a metal end. It was even better. The coconut just split open in my hands with a few knocks.
This is the first method i used in opening a coconut. Much more laborious than the meat tenderiser method.
What you to do is hold the coconut in your left hand and the meat tenderiser in your right hand. Make sure your holding the coconut with the three little holes pointing North or South.
Place a large pasta bowl under the coconut to catch any water that may spill.
With the meat tenderiser, hit the coconut as you’re holding it above the bowl.
Hit it right in the centre and hit it relatively hard.
A few times should be adequate before the coconut cracks.
As soon as it cracks the coconut water will run down into your bowl. Make sure all the coconut water has come out.
Then hit the coconut a few more times to open it fully – it’s now in a few pieces.
With a blunt pointed knife (apple knife would do), slide the knife in-between the outer furry layer and the coconut flesh. Pull away and the outer layer should just peel off in chunks. You will be left with a thin layer of brown skin that sits just ontop of the white coconut meat.
Peel the brown skin off with a vegetable peeler.
Once all the coconut meat has been peeled, wash all the meat.
With a mandolin, slice the coconut meat on the thinnest setting
Any chunky pieces you can slice manually or push them thru the mandolin by hand, very slowly and carefully. You don’t want to slice your fingers.
To the right is the meat tenderiser with the metal end.
Here I’m using a blunt pointed knife, inserting it in-between the outer layer of the coconut and the coconut meat. The outer layer should literally pop off.
This is the brown inner skin of the coconut. This part just needs to be peeled off using a vegetable peeler.
Peeling the coconut meat using a mandolin. Using the thinnest setting.
Baking Coconut Chips
Preheat the oven to 180 degrees Celsius.
Spread the coconut chips on non-stick baking trays on one layer.
Sprinkle rock salt over them all.
On half of them (or as many as you like), sprinkle the all spice and cinnamon.
Bake for approx 15min or until the edges have browned. Half way thru the baking turn the baking trays around.
Coconut Water
The coconut water will have little bits in it. So I used a muslin cloth to strain it thru a few times. If you don’t have muslin cloth then a very fine strainer would suffice.
Muslin cloth to strain the coconut water with. If you dont have one you can use a very fine strainer.
The yummy coconut water.
Fresh coconut water is simply delicious!