Crazy Coconut

I don't like Coconut. I've had it on desserts and stuff but never cared for it. On the other hand, I have always wanted to try a real Coconut. So finally, I picked one up from Meijer, my favorite grocery store. I was so excited I finally bought one. I looked up on YouTube on how to open it. This guy was using a huge butcher knife in one hand while holding the Coconut with the other. I was like, "No way am I doing that!" He opened it effortlessly whereas for me, it was a nightmare and very tedious getting the meat out. Click on the short video to hear the Coconut water. I know it sounds weird but I was so excited about this. I guess because it's something different.




The man on YouTube said that the liquid in a Coconut is called water until you blend it with Coconut and then it's called Coconut milk. After we shook it to listen to the liquid we moved outdoors and put the Coconut in a plastic bowl and hit it with a hammer. My whole family was out there pleading to let them try and break it open. You should have seen us. We were all fighting over the hammer until I said, "I'm opening it!" And when I was having trouble opening it, my family was getting more frustrated with me and demanded that I give them the hammer. But I kept whacking away until it opened on about the twelfth whack. As you might have noticed in the first photo, the Coconut had a score mark around it, that's why the tag read 'easy break.' It broke, but in the opposite direction of the score mark Coconut. How that happened, I have know idea but could only happen to me. When it broke in half the water ran into the bowl but was dirty from all the outside bits of the Coconut. Then I had to keep hitting the Coconut into smaller pieces so that I could scrape it out with a bendable knife, which I did not have or a vegetable peeler which I do have. But that did not work at all. It was a very tedious because I had to use a big spoon and twist the meat this way and that to pop it off the shell. Then I had to very carefully cut that brown skin off with a knife. It reminded me of that skin still stuck on peanuts sometimes but only thicker.












After about 45 minutes later and very soar hands, I got about 1/3 of a large bowl of meat.












I filtered the Coconut water into the blender using a coffee filter then added the meat. The man on YouTube mentioned something about blending the Coconut meat along with the Coconut water and you could have it that way.















But when I blended it, it was not a thick drink at all. It was a shredded mess with not enough liquid in it to make it a thick drink. So I just dumped it in the garbage. All that work for nothing. And a lot of wasted time. I probably did something wrong, I don't know. But it was fun. And it was funny how my whole family was gathered around while trying to open this Coconut. You should have seen us. It was like a strange object had fallen into my backyard and we were all so fascinated to see what was inside. Crazy, but fun. I'm glad I don't like Coconut because I probably won't be doing this little experiment again.
I'm signing off..............from Peek-A-Boo Street!

Pomegranates

Has anyone of my blogger friends out there ever try a pomegranate? I did once but never bought one for my family. Well as you might know, they are in season. My grocery store just got some here in Michigan. There in season from August till November and are very popular for people to have them in their home around the holidays.

So I thought I'd buy a couple for myself and for my family to try. Then the wheels started turning and I thought why not share this with my bloggy buddies.

I looked up on the Internet on how to slice a pomegranate. I did some research on them to. I also took some pictures for you.

How to slice & prepare your pomegranate;

-First wash the fruit of course.

-Put on apron and paper towels on cutting board. Pomegranate will stain and will not come out with bleach on anything! I cut one in 1/2 just to show you what it looks like inside. But do not cut it in 1/2.

-Use a sharp knife. The skin looks tough like a squash but you'll be surprised how easily a knife slices the fruit.

-You will slice a little off the top and the bottom of the fruit. With the fruit laying on it's side, you will carefully then score the skin from one end of the fruit to the other just until you get through the skin and into the white part just beneath the skin. You will score the fruit five times around one fruit. I could only find four sections in my fruit so I just put the fifth slice where I thought it should go. See pic...

-Then your going to put your pomegranate in a large bowl in your sink. Fill it with cold water. Let it sit for five to ten minutes.

-Then your going to start to break apart the wedges and start rubbing the seeds out with your thumbs. I was surprised again how easy it was to break apart the wedges. The seeds were pretty easy to get out but took a little time.

Make sure you rub the seeds out under the water though so the juice won't stain anything. As you can see in the photo, the seeds will sink to the bottom of the bowl and the pulp and skin will stay afloat on top of the water.

After your done with the seeds your going to use a very small strainer like the photo below to scoop up the white pulp and the skin out of the bowl and discard the fruit remnants.

Then your going to pour the water and the seeds into another colander. Rinse the seeds in the colander. Pick out any remaining white pulp. The pulp reminds me of a dry sponge, type texture. Then enjoy! You eat the whole seed. They look like little rubies.

Just some tidbits for you about the pomegranate fruit...

-It has three times more antioxidants than green tea and red wine.

-A pomegranate tree can live up to 100 years.

-Pomegranates is the oldest fruit in the world.

-Pomegranates are mentioned in the old testament in the book of Deuteronomy in the Holy Bible.

-Pomegranates holds different symbolism's in different religions. For Christianity you will find in religious paintings (by Sandro Botticelli & Leonardo da Vinci) Mother Mary or the Infant Jesus holding a pomegranate. In the paintings the skin of the fruit will be broken or bursting open which is suppose to symbolise Jesus' suffering and resurrection.

-Pomegranates are not that popular in America because people think that the fruit is to hard to eat.

-First records of the fruit date back to 100 B.C. where it was thought to be a native to Persia.

-Pomegranates keep your heart healthy. It's helps to prevent cancer. It also keeps platelets from clumping together to form dangerous blood clots.

So go and eat a pomegranate today! Signing off...from Peek-A-Boo Street. Good night, sleep tight, and don't let the bed bugs bite, sleep tight all right?