How do I shred, sweeten, and dry fresh coconut to use to make coconut macaroons?
This eHow has the easiest ways:
www.ehow.com/
The oven method works better than microwave.
Just be sure not to over process with the food processor as it can turn to powder not flakes if you do it too long.
YUM!
We shred fresh coconut here all the time. You will not have a rasp like we have to do this one with. Cracking the shell can be difficult to get the meat out of the inside of the coconut. If you can manage to crack the shell and remove the meat the best way to do this is with a cheese grater. Other than this I have taken a stick and hit 4 large nails in the side of the wood and used it to remove the coconut when I visited the US.
Here is a great recipe to use it fresh thehealthyfoodie.com/
Here are the questions asked by community members. Read on to see the answers provided by the ThriftyFun community.
Does anyone know how to sweeten and dry coconut meat?
I have a couple of good books that I refer to when questions like this come up--How to Dry Foods by Deanna DeLong, HP Books and and Dehydration Made Simple by Mary Bell, Magic Mill. Here is a paraphrase:Coconuts are 51% water.
Start with a coconut that is heavy for its size and full of liquid. Poke holes in one of the "eyes" at one end and drain liquid. Crack shell with a hammer and steam for 1 min. to loosen meat from the shell. Use a stout knife to pry meat the rest of the way loose and to trim off brown rind from meat.
Grate or cut into 1/4 or 1/2 inch cubes or strips and dry at approx. 130 degrees F (55C) until leathery or dry and crunchy. To sweeten, sprinkle with sifted powdered sugar before drying.
Because of high oil content, dried coconut keeps best when stored in an air-tight container in the frig. or freezer until used. May turn ivory in color after drying. Have fun. Begonia
I break the shell of the coconut, peel the hard skin, slice and add sugar. Then I put it in the food processor. I add about 1 cup of water, blend till it's fine and drain with a muslin cloth.
How do I sweeten coconut?
By Yvonneg from Plano, TX
Hi! Well, coconut is already pretty sweet, and of course it matters what you're going to use it for. But, since you didn't mention a recipe I'll guess that you want to eat it fresh from the shell? After you break it out of the shell, you could try dunking it in a "bath" of about 1/2 cup of water and 2 Tbspn of sugar or Splenda.
