Making coconut milk and flour and a smoothie

My recent love is making coconut milk. I am not a big fan of coconut milk in a can. I have tried to make coconut yogurt and didn't like the taste of it at all..it tasted rancid to me...But, I have perfected coconut milk to my liking. I like to add it to my smoothies or teas as a creamer. Delicious.

You will need
2 hairy brown coconuts
a coconut knife
screwdriver and hammer
large measuring cup or bowl
strainer to fit on top of cup or bowl
oven

I have wrestled with coconuts before trying to open them. I am not a strong person, so I needed a way to get the water and meat out.

Extracting the Coconut Water

Using a mature (the brown hairy ones) coconut, I first find the 3 hole like marks at the top of the coconut. One of them is usually softer than the others. This is the one to tap into. I personally use a hammer and a screwdriver. I position the screwdriver over the hole and pound with the hammer at the top of the screwdriver. This usually gets me in the coconut. I then use my coconut knife ( not easy to find...got mine from amazon) to widen the whole. I then take a large measuring up and put a strainer on top of it and put the coconut in the strainer upside down so it drains and strains at the same time. Once the coconut has drained i put the coconut water in a clean container and put in fridge. I repeat this again on the second coconut.

Opening a coconut

Next, I put the coconuts on a baking sheet and bake on 450 for  7-10 minutes until the coconut cracks. Then I place them in the freezer to  cool quickly. Once cooled, I wrap one in a towel and take it outside to crack open with a hammer. Tap on the coconut to crack and open. The meat should separate from the shell. If not keep on hitting until it does.

Now you have coconut meat with brown skin on it. Use a peeler to get the brown skin off.

Making Coconut milk

coconut meat
nut bag with draw string ( bag big enough to hold 32 oz) ( mine is made out of linen)
bowl
strainer to fit on bowl
food processor or high power blender

• Place bag in bowl. 
• Pour coconut meat and 3 cups of water in food processor. Process till smooth...it will not smooth all the way down. Don't worry.  
• Carefully pour the  the coconut mixture into the bag over the bowl. Tie up the bag and squeeze milk out of bag into bowl. Keep squeezing until all liquid is out of the bag.
• Transfer coconut milk to clean bottle and place in fridge to drink or use.

Making Coconut flour

leftover coconut meat from making milk
dehydrator
parchment paper
cookie sheeet
grain grinder or nutribullet with grain blade

• Line a dehydrator sheet with parchment paper, tearing a hole near center for air to go through.
• Remove the leftover coconut meat from bag
• Spread coconut meat on parchment paper.
• Dehydrate at 115 for 4 hours or until dry.
• Remove from dehydrator and place in nutribullet with grain blade. Grind until flour like.
• Store in clean, dry container.

FYI There are a lot of videos on utube on how to open coconuts, making coconut milk and flour.

Coconut Pineapple smoothie

1 cup fresh or frozen pineapple
1 banana
1 cup coconut milk
1/2 cup pineapple juice or pineapple kefir water
3 mint leaves

Blend all ingredients in blender. Enjoy