The most delicious fruits are the ones that are just out of reach. Exotic, juicy fruits which – should they find their way to your table – remain stubbornly wrapped in their skins while you stare at them, baffled as to how to proceed. Without expert knowledge, taking a kitchen knife to such fruit is likely to end up with one or both of you in a mess: sticky juice dripping on the floor, jagged fruit flesh that you can’t present to your guests, maybe even a sliced finger or worse. When it’s You Versus Fruit, it pays to know what you’re doing.
There are a few things you can do upfront to improve your chances of coming out of the encounter unscathed. Some fruits, for example, actually have special peelers and slicers designed specifically for them. The others will be much easier to deal with if you’re using a properly sharpened knife – just watch out for your hands!
The coconut is a particularly dramatic fruit to get into. You’ll need a chopping board, screwdriver, hammer, and that sharp knife we spoke about. Hammer the screwdriver into the shell where the coconut’s eyes are, and drain the milk for later. It’s useful stuff – coconut milk is lactose-free, rich in fiber, and is packed with vitamins and minerals including iron and calcium.
But if it’s that flesh that you looking for, keep going: hit the knife’s edge of the shell to make a crack, and then lever it open. It should then be simple to chop or break it into usable chunks, for your curry, cake or pie. And look – no-one got hurt.
For step-by-step guides on how to get into a number of other exotic fruits, check out this new infographic. The fruit is terribly good for you, as long as you don’t harm yourself trying to open it!
