How do you know when a Coconut is ripe? (how much, dangerous)

[KoaKine]

How do you know when a Coconut is ripe?

[1freespirit]

Beats me - I dunno when it looks brown and not green?

[wikiwikirunner]

I usually go with the shaking approach. If you shake it and hear nothing... probably a bad sign. It also depends if you want more milk or meat. Also go to your local farmer's market and scope out what those ones look like. I've found the greener it is, the less meat and more milk it has... unless it's so green that it's unripe. Your best bet though would probably be to look for one that is just starting to turn brown.

[robertjohnson]

Very hard to tell until it's cut open.
The only reliable way requires climbing the tree.
Cut a single coconut from a cluster. Chop it open and inspect.
If your happy with what you see climb back up and get her 'sisters'.
They should all be about the same ripeness.

My preference is for young coconut.
A layer about a quarter inch thick coating the inside of the 'nut' resembling milky jello.
And it's amazingly good.
That thick hard white stuff we get here is only good for making coco oil
or ground finely it makes a good hair moisturizer.

And It's no joke. Linger under those trees at your peril!

[KoaKine]

Originally Posted by robertjohnson

Very hard to tell until it's cut open.
The only reliable way requires climbing the tree.
Cut a single coconut from a cluster. Chop it open and inspect.
If your happy with what you see climb back up and get her 'sisters'.
They should all be about the same ripeness.

My preference is for young coconut.
A layer about a quarter inch thick coating the inside of the 'nut' resembling milky jello.
And it's amazingly good.
That thick hard white stuff we get here is only good for making coco oil
or ground finely it makes a good hair moisturizer.

And It's no joke. Linger under those trees at your peril!

That is the reply I was waiting for
now is the hard part .? finding the coconut palm in western NY? any clues?
Oh well I'll have to wait till I get out there in 5 Months.

[mdand3boys]

Lingering under the trees is dangerous. Minutes ago, we heard a CRASH in the backyard - a large frond broke off and fell 25+ feet. Could have really hurt someone!

[hotzcatz]

Lingering under coconut trees has killed people. They used to put signs under them about "beware the falling coconuts" but too many people were hurt and some people were killed so now the nuts are taken off before they fall. It is pretty hard to find ripe coconuts on any publicly owned coconut tree anymore.

"Ripe" in regards to coconuts is different depending upon if you want spoon meat or hard meat. Shake the coconut and see if you hear a slosh. How heavy and how much slosh will tell you how ripe it is. Usually they are pretty ripe by the time they fall off the tree.