How to bust a coconut open like a boss

Originally published at: http://boingboing.net/2016/11/04/how-to-bust-a-coconut-open-lik.html

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Grew up in south Florida and learned early how to crack open the coconuts that fell from the trees. The basic idea behind husking the coconut is the same as in the video, but there weren’t a lot of big rocks around to drop on them. so we just sat down on the sidewalk and pounded the pointy end against the cement - after 30 seconds to a minute we could husk the coconut as shown. Easy once you know how.

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I’m just wondering where you would get the giraffe saliva/suntan lotion concoction in order to be able to make that comparison.

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Bad behaviour at the zoo. I’ve done this with a llama, but only because I knew it could squirt saliva at me once I got the suntan lotion in to its mouth.

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How did it taste, compared to coconut water?

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a journalist never divulges sources. neither do i.

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Tom Hanks already showed us how to do it

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More like llama spit than coconut water, to tell you the truth.

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Yummy!

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That’s what machetes are for.

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Whole Foods.

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Also, the third (different) “eye” is much thinner than the others and can be punctured easily to get the liquid out before splitting (and otherwise wasting it). Finally, the difference between coconut “water” and “milk” is the age of the coconut. A young (green) coconut will have thinner and softer nut meat with richer liquid (milk). An older (brown) coconut will have thicker and harder nut meat with clearer liquid (water). What is happening there is that the nutrients in the liquid transition to become nut meat over time, so if this is for survival purposes you want to make sure you always capture the liquid from a green one. Also for survival purposes, coconuts are the only known single food source having all of the nutrients required by the human body.

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Pretty sure there is at least one other… though it is frowned upon.

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Bah! Coconut water is delicious, even before you add the lime and the rum.

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That’s a less renewable resource, despite what Jonathan Swift might have you believe.

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There’s an easier way than rocks or concrete. Use a stick with a flat, somewhat sharp end. Stick it in the beach with the flat end out. Hold the coconut with both hands and use the flat side of the stick to poke through the hard skin and peel by continuously letting it come down on the stick. Result should be easier lifting and more control, i.e. Less liquid lost. I learned this on a beach in Fiji.

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This guy has no clue how conservation of energy works.

“We can let gravity do the hard work for us.” Immediately lifts as heavy a rock as he can lift and throws it at the coconut several times in a row. No, that’s you doing the hard work for you, doofus.

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Yeah. But the math might still work out. Lifting and throwing a rock down a few times might use less energy than sitting around worrying at a coconut for six hours. You’re burning calories at rest anyway.

But yes, gravity is not doing any work. He’s just using it like a capacitor.

ETA:

Although he may not understand conservation of energy very well, everything he does demonstrates a very good understanding of concentration of energy.

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Edge of a rock, really, for plenty abounds, just look around: rocks and coconuts.

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