We’re with Coco

How many Christiansens does it take to open a coconut?

The answer: about 4.

While we were down in Cox Bazaar the resort had given us green coconuts to drink the water out of (this is a popular drink) and Atticus was extremely excited to try it. He was also extremely disappointed to learn that it isn’t sweet and he wasn’t a fan. He got it into his head that he must love brown coconuts, not green ones, and was talking about coconuts for what seemed like weeks (although we guess it was only a day or so).

Given his newfound obsession with all things coconut, Sam noticed him staring longingly at the brown coconuts in the store last week and picked one up. Now, while we like coconut just fine (actually Sam thought she didn’t like it for years and avoided it, but discovered a few years ago that she, in fact, loves it) we don’t tend to buy fresh coconuts very often in the US because A) they are expensive, B) they are a ridiculous amount of work to deal with and C) we have no idea how to tell a “good” coconut from a “bad” coconut, so all the money and work might be for a crappy coconut. And who wants a crappy coconut?

Well, here the cost factor goes away – they are 30 taka, so for 50 cents we figured we’d give it a go. The other factors though – not knowing what to buy and the amount of work, are universal. We brought the coconut home, and fortunately Jon’s dad knew how to get into it (it didn’t make it any easier, but at least he knew the general process…). So for part 2 of our ten thousand part series on food, here is a photo demonstration:

First you draw a face on it.

Then you kiss it.

Then you rip all the hair off it, take a knife and gouge out the soft spot until you can drain all the juice out (turns out Atticus doesn’t like brown coconut water either, although you can see him eagerly awaiting it).

Then you bang it around until it cracks open. (A knife is somewhat helpful – although it is still a pain in the neck. Notice how many hands are in this picture…)

Then you pose for photos with it.

Then you peel off the outer husk – NOT EASY. Maybe there is a trick we don’t know?

Finally, after all that gruesome process, you can enjoy the delicious fruits of your labor! Fortunately, our coconut was pretty good, although it was luck, not any method of selection. Other than checking that there is still some water shaking around in there, we are told there isn't really a way to know a good coconut from a mediocre one.

In addition it turns out coconut is super good for you, and despite (again) all the products of oils and pills available, we argue that the best way to get the nutrition from it is to just eat it straight up. There is a strangely active community of people that make some fairly outrageous claims about coconut all over the internet (the “Coconut Research Institute” must be pretty authoritative, right?!) and it is hard to know how much is real and how much is just weird. On a basic level, as far as healthiness goes it seems to have good fat and fiber, is supposed to be good for stomach problems (here people claim that green coconut water is better for stomach sickness than anything else), it is pretty filling as a little snack, and it tastes pretty good. Plus, we’re fairly certain you must burn off more calories getting the thing open than you can possibly consume from eating it!

So, while most of you are in the US and will have to shell out big bucks – go ahead a get a coconut tonight in our honor and think of us as you smash into it.