This is a machine that you sit a young (sometimes called Thai) coconut into. The machine would first poke a hole in the top. You remove the coconut and pour out the milk into a container. You put the coconut back into the machine. The machine now cuts the top off just the way an electric can opener cuts the top off a can. You can now scoop out the insides of the coconut. Ideally, it would be quick and noiseless.
-- sketchgrrl, Jul 11 2005

(?) Martindale machetes http://www.physics....ndale_machetes.html
[Ling, Jul 11 2005]

First you must get this little guy to hand over the goods http://www.sitca.net/koh_samui_monkey.htm
[Ling, Jul 11 2005]

Then you could also try this method http://www.rawfoods...file=article&sid=23
Note, this seems to be for the harder (older) coconuts [Ling, Jul 11 2005]

Or this method http://living-foods.../youngcoconuts.html
This is specifically for young coconuts [Ling, Jul 11 2005]

Steam-powered pencil sharpener Steam-powered_20pencil_20sharpener
[hippo, Jul 11 2005]

Coconut Holder Coconut_20Holder
After your coconut is open, you will need one of these. [DIYMatt, Jan 11 2012]

Coconut Driller Opener Knife Tool Young Green Thai Hawaii NEW High Quality http://compare.ebay.com/like/260901098416
Hand-powered driller on EBay [baconbrain, Jan 25 2012]

Hi, sketchgrrl! Nice name. Welcome to the Halfbakery.

I'd run a straw down the hole, to prevent bits of husk getting into the milk. Mmmmm, green coconut milk.
-- baconbrain, Jul 11 2005


Ya just don't see many of them electric coconuts anymore.
-- 2 fries shy of a happy meal, Jul 11 2005


nice work [sketch], a (+) from me on the understanding that it can cut through all of the husky stuff, not just the nut itself.
-- neilp, Jul 11 2005


See link. I was fortunate enough to tour their factory a long time ago. They gave me a traditional machete with copper braiding on the handle. This 2ft machete could take the top off your coconut easily in one go (and probably your hand, too).

I carried it through the London Underground, wrapped in brown paper, about 20 years ago.
-- Ling, Jul 11 2005


Ooo, I would want one of those and also one of the electric coconut openers as well. +
-- sartep, Jul 11 2005


Nice link, Ling. I don't see a machete shaped like the big knife the Sumatra green-coconut vendors use. They don't just chop the whole top off in one go, they work their way in, tapering the top. I just saw a man make a little flap out of the very top--it stayed sealed all the way home, then lifted up to slide in a straw.

After all the milk is drunk, the vendors will take the coconut back, split it in two halves and use a little of the husk to make a scoop for the soft 'meat'. I usually pass up that treat, as the knives are not at all clean. I'm waiting to bun this idea until after an automatic cleaning device is added.
-- baconbrain, Jul 11 2005


i want a steam powered one.
-- benfrost, Jul 11 2005


I just want to see the electric coconut.
-- joeforker, Jul 11 2005


[benfrost] Using steam-powered pencil sharpener technology? (link)
-- hippo, Jul 11 2005


For those of you who do not happen to be on a tropic island, a bit of explanation: The coconuts sold in American supermarkets, the hairy hard-shelled brown nuts lined with firm meat and a little liquid, are the older versions of what we are discussing here. They grew with a thick layer of dense fibrous padding around them, but the husk was removed before shipping, with some effort. They are also considered to be too old for anything but oil, here in Sumatra.

A green coconut has a solid thick husk, a soft shell, some barely-jelled meat, and is full of water that really doesn't have a lot of flavor, but is very refreshing, and very popular. A sharp machete can cut through the husk with some effort, but can also cut through the shell, releasing a spray of water.

Most of those for home use are sold with some modification to the husk, done with a sharp machete, for ease of handling.

Today, I asked my assistant to get some green coconuts while he was out. (I gave him the equivalent of an American dollar, and got five coconuts!) They had been flattened at one end, and tapered very bluntly at the other, apparently with a machete.

I was able to drive a big pocketknife in through the shell at the tapered end, and get a straw in the hole--ummm. (I also got a spray of coconut water on my best shirt, and I'm told it bleaches the fabric.) I then was barely able to haggle the coconut in half with my knife, to get at the meat with a spoon.

Based on that experience, I'm going to say that electricity is not really needed in a coconut opener. I have seen a thing like a cleaver bolted to a hinge that could easily be fitted with a coconut holder (sort of like a fancy bagel slicer).

If I was opening a lot of coconuts, just for drinking, and had access to electricity, I'd try a rotary-blade meat slicer. That might shave down through the husk, flattening the ends and barely exposing the inside. It would still take some skill and a sharp eye, though. And a machete would still be the best tool to cut the empty coconut in two pieces.

An electric coconut opener could be made, but this idea does not start to describe how to do it. What it does say is, "The machine now cuts the top off just the way an electric can opener cuts the top off a can." A coconut is a sphere, and would best be cut into equal halves. An electric can opener, no matter how mutated, wouldn't work as well as a powered machete blade.
-- baconbrain, Jul 11 2005


so..... "electric-powered machete blade" it is! [+]
-- sophocles, Jul 12 2005


Or a circular saw blade?
-- Minimal, Jul 12 2005


hey, where did you get/order the electric coconut opener from.
-- cut3crystal, Jan 16 2006


...or just use a brick
-- simonj, Jan 09 2012


Bricks don't taste the same.
-- MaxwellBuchanan, Jan 11 2012


You speak from experience?
-- mouseposture, Jan 12 2012


He's English. A half-brick is the national means for conducting discussions.
-- baconbrain, Jan 12 2012


No, but English public schools are notorious for their cooking.
-- MaxwellBuchanan, Jan 13 2012


Hence the popular British expression, "A man is what he eats, don't you know, old brick".
-- spidermother, Jan 13 2012


//Hence the popular British expression//

Ah. Your sources seem to be about 50 years slow, old bean.
-- MaxwellBuchanan, Jan 13 2012


Dash it all, next you'll be saying those spiffing boaters and bowlers are in danger of becoming old hat.
-- spidermother, Jan 13 2012


They say your cockney secret codes are wearing thin in the digital age. Is that true?

+wins for the idea.
-- Zimmy, Jan 15 2012


I was just wrestling the meat out of a coconut this week. Build it! And yeah, a bit more detail on. How it would work would be appreciated...but build it anyway. Please. Bun.
-- white, Jan 24 2012


Coconuts fresh from the tree are a totally different fruit; they're very determined to not be opened, but once you get in there, the meat is almost buttery-soft (no intendre intended). I'd like a battery-powered version for my next trip to the tropics, as the places we like to visit can be characterized by their distinct lack of wall outlets.
-- Alterother, Jan 24 2012


Is there a way to do it with shaped charges?
-- mouseposture, Jan 24 2012


A green coconut falling from a tree is pretty much a shaped charge. It's about like a bowling ball, and the trees are tall. I've seen coconuts crack open on impact. (Don't sleep under a tree .... )

There are a couple different "handle with a coconut borer on it" on the web, roughly like a corkscrew, I mean non-powered (linky). That lets you get a straw in for the water--the little bit of meat in a very young green coconut isn't worth the struggle of opening it any further, although riper ones can be got open with a cleaver once the juice is out.
-- baconbrain, Jan 25 2012



random, halfbakery