Sunday, March 20, 2011

Handmade Home #5: Coconuts

A couple of days ago we were at José's house and he gave us about a dozen coconuts. There are signs for "coco frios" all along the roads here. They machete them down and then stick a hole in it for you to drink from. I have only ever had lukewarm coconut water in people's homes. I really do not care for it. But 12 coconuts... there was no way we were letting this gift go to waste.

I did not realize that coconut water had recently become popular in the States until I started googling what to make with 12 coconuts. It's some very healthy stuff. Turns out that it tastes a whole lot better when it is cold too.

So Jimmy drained 8+ coconuts with his machete... yeah right, with his drill. We ended up with a gallon of coconut water. It will last about a week in the refrigerator.

So far we have tried pineapple and mango smoothies. Both were delicious, but our favorite was the pineapple. We now plan on planting a coconut tree at our forever house and we probably will start picking up a couple "coco frios" now and then too.

Here is the recipe Jimmy came up with if you have any fresh coconuts:

Coconut Water Pineapple Smoothies
2 cups coconut water
2 cups ice
1 large can of pineapple (juice too)
1 T sugar
Yields 36 oz.

Here are some piggy banks Jimmy found for the boys made out of coconuts. There are some very creative people in this country. The eyes and feet are made out of seeds.

4 comments:

  1. Yum! I've only tried coconut water once, and it was in a smoothie as well. It's not a very strong flavor to begin with, is it?
    Those are really cute piggy banks!

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  2. I was surprised the first time I tasted coconut water. I guess I was expecting something more milky. It is very thin. Do you guess come across a bunch of coconuts in Guate?

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  3. Did you say can of pineapple?!? Get a nice big juicy fresh one that has been sun ripened! The pineapple here in West Africa is the best. I have grown some in our yard and if you let them ripen before you cut them they are MUCH better!

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  4. We do not get very good fresh fruits and veggies up here in the northern part of Petén. Most of the stuff is transported from farms in the south and is all rotten by the time it gets in the market. The last pineapple I bought only yielded about a cup of crushed pineapple for a recipe I was making.

    We had a small container garden for a while. We are building a house and plan on having a very large garden, so we will get to try some of those sun ripened ones soon hopefully!

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