Unleashing the Power of Coconuts: Lots of Work for Little Reward
My Diary: January 26, 2023
Old Things
We have a tree right above the Hammock that needs to drop coconuts. That happened yesterday, and I learned to make coconut oil.
Mike cut down 13 coconuts, and we started with two for the coconut oil. He drilled two holes in each coconut and poured the water into a jar. I strained that sweet water into another jar and put it in the fridge for us to drink.
Then, he removed the green shells with an electric cutter.
The tough nut to crack was next. He hit it with the back of a machete in a circle until it cracked open. I took the four pieces to the kitchen, steamed them for 10 minutes, and removed the white kernels.
The hardest part is next. There is a tough brown “skin” on the kernels to peel off. I finally got into a rhythm with a potato peeler, but it was slow going. I had to stop and think: “What’s your hurry, Cathy? Got something more important to be doing?” Hmmm. Found my rhythm.
All the clean, white coconut pieces went into the Vitamix and were shredded. Added some water and blended more for coconut milk. Then I squeezed all that through a nutbag to separate the milk from the pulp.
The nearly dry pulp went into a mason jar. I’m going to learn to make coconut flour. On the advice of some locals, the next time, I will “make milk” two or three times from that same pulp.
The milk went on the stove in a pan and simmered for 3 hours until the milk curdled and separated from the oil. It should only take one to two hours. I am sure I did not have the heat high enough. Lessons for the next time.
After the milk curds started to turn darker, I poured them through a sieve, separating the milk curds from the oil. I strained the oil again, pouring it into a bottle for about 3 Tablespoons of pure coconut oil. 😂🤷🏼♀️🤔😎
Did you laugh?
So now that I’m “experienced” (you can laugh again), I’ll take pictures of the process the next time!
New Things
Since this is my first month not working at my business, I’ve used the last 26 days to try a few different things.
I never did learn to macrame in the ’70s, but I’m pushing 70 years old and learning now! I’ve made several simple plant holders and am currently working on a more complicated one. Here it is in the early days:
These are some I’ve already completed with plants hanging outside:
I created this one today. Since we are trying to use all parts of the coconut, the empty nut becomes a plant holder. And since I wanted to use this one to add some color inside of the Hangout, I went out back to the Buttonwood Preserve for an air plant. How do you think this turned out?
Mike has several projects in the works, and I have some gardening going on. Stay tuned for some pictures of the cool things we are making in Roatan.
