Thanks for all of the thoughtful comments on my last post. You all had such insightful things to say!
Here are a couple of interesting ideas discussed in the comments section:
- Many healthy eaters are concerned about being judged for their “different” food choices.
- Just because a person eats healthfully does not mean he/she is on a diet.
- Adhering to a healthy lifestyle does not indicate that a person has an eating disorder!
- One person commented that a single hot dog wouldn’t kill me.
I smiled as I read this because I totally respect the comment! It truly is a fine line between healthy and extreme. I was actually expecting more comments from her point of view.
Check out the comments section of my Food Minority post if you’d like to read what others had to say. Feel free to add your two cents!
**
Adventures in Making Fresh Coconut Butter
So yesterday, I was browsing the produce section of my local grocery store. And I noticed a selection of these beauties.
The price was only $2.50 per coconut, so I decided to put one in my cart.
Almost immediately I began envisioning fresh, homemade coconut butter, and I started to grow excited about my spur of the moment plans for an evening project.
I have made coconut butter before, but I used prepackaged, dried coconut.
I ended up with a good product, and the process had been remarkably simple!
But how can you top fresh coconut? I mean, how difficult can it be to crack open a coconut, scrape out the meat, and liquefy it in a food processor?
Oh, how naive I am. Cracking open a coconut is not a breeze.
I used the very non-professional method of throwing the coconut onto my kitchen floor and then prying the cracks open with a small screwdriver.
Once the coconut was opened, I gouged the white meat from the hard, thick shell.
Take care with completing this step.
I cut myself twice during the above described meat extracting process. You can’t really tell from the picture, but that cut on the left is really deep! It hurt. To top it all off, my band-aid stash was completely empty at the time of this injury. Trying to make coconut butter with a paper towel wrapped around two fingers is not easy.
But back to the coconut butter debacle.
At this point a thin brown shell remained attached to the meat.
For the next step, I advise chopping the coconut into one inch squares. 
Then using a grater to scrape off the brown skin.
Put the meat in the food processor for a few seconds.
Place the coconut on a baking sheet and bake in the oven at 350 for about 30 minutes. Once the coconut starts to brown, it’s ready to be taken out!
Put the dried coconut back in the food processor and chop.
For a long….
long…
time.
Like one hour’s worth of starting, stopping, and scraping the sides of the food processor time.
(Note: Photo is re-cycled from the last time I made coconut butter.)
From start to finish, the fresh coconut butter took me about 4 hours to make. Not to mention, I cut myself twice and overcooked the lentils I was making for dinner while engaged in the process.
The taste is good. But not worth the effort. Never again.
The moral: fresh is not always best. Next time, I’ll stick to using prepackaged coconut, thank you very much.
I think I finally realize why people are willing to shell out $10 for a small jar of this stuff!
Question: What’s the most time consuming food you’ve ever made? Was it worth it in the end?
AN HOUR!? Holy cow…that’s a LONG time. I admire your patience! I wanted to make coconut butter from scratch, but maybe I won’t now :s
I made a cake once that took about 7hrs..it was filled with mousse and had a bout a gazzilion stages. It was worth it though!!
Yeah, I would NEVER do that! But always fun to try new things and learn in the process.
I hope your cuts are better.
LOL i am glad I am LAZY!!4 hours jeez!!! Think of how much money you would have MADE in 4 hours at work!!!But thanks for making this for your blog!
BTW I agree…your last post was a fun lil comment getter!
I tried to make almond butter once. I don’t think I processed it for long enough because it never really make it paste the almond meal stage.
Wow, I am impressed that you stuck with it! That’s such a long (and painful!) time. I think the most laborious thing I’ve made is risotto with arborio rice… and that’s not even that time consuming!
i am impressed lily! holy…….one time i made boston creme cupcakes-so worth it ! happy friday lady
Looks like a blast! Minus the injury…. I need to make my own butters sometime as well.
wow, it took you 4 hours? that’s some dedication! I don’t think I’d ever have the patience for that. I sliced my finger pretty deep while cutting up a mango last week, so I feel your pain!!
You are a TROOPER! I would’ve given up at the first sight of blood, easily. haha. I’m sorry to hear that it wasn’t worth it in the end :/ It *sounds* like it should’ve been amazing! Question, though – why bake the coconut before blending? For the flavor?
Wow! That’s impressive!! It looks delicious!
[...] This post was mentioned on Twitter by Lily Catherine. Lily Catherine said: Adventures in Making Homemade Coconut Butter http://www.lilyshealthpad.com/2010/04/29/adventures-in-making-fresh-coconut-butter/ [...]
Wow, that is SO interesting! I’ve never actually cracked and played around with a real coconut, ever. And ack, nasty cuts! It’s funny HOW painful a small cut on your fingertip can be!
“From start to finish, the fresh coconut butter took me about 4 hours to make. Not to mention, I cut myself twice and overcooked the lentils I was making for dinner while engaged in the process.
The taste is good. But not worth the effort. Never again. ”
AMEN GIRL!
When I first got my dehydrator and i still had more piss and vinegar in my related to how much I would “do” in the name of blogging…
I set out to make raw vegan girl scout cookie samoas.
http://www.loveveggiesandyoga.com/2009/10/vegan-almost-raw-girl-scout-samoas.html
NEVER again.
My recipes now, are what i would make for myself and my fam. I dont try to impress anyone and gone are the days of making things for the blog. No way but yeah, the samoas took about 36 hrs in total. YEs. 36.
lol– yeah, I’ll definitely shell out ten bucks to avoid that process
Four hours?! I am cheap and lazy, so I think I’d rather spend the $2.50 on the packaged coconut. It still looks. so. damn. good. (I’m LOVE coconut!)
I don’t know what I’ve spent the most time on. Probably cake balls at Christmas time!
That looks amazing but I don’t think I’d have the patience to make it! Hmm, time consuming? Probably birthday cakes – which still turned out not-so-pretty!
Oh wow- you were dedicated to finishing this! Congrats on getting it made after all was said and done! I’ve never dealt with an actual coconut before and would have had no idea where to start…
I’ve also never tried coconut butter before- something I’m dying to do!
war wounds from the battle! I’m so impressed you did this. I give up after 20 mins in the kitchen haha add…
Katherine
Yeah, no matter how yummy it is, I don’t think I could’ve gone through all of that to make it. Maybe I’m lazy, I don’t know, haha. Baking is really the only time consuming thing I’ve done, and it’s always worth it. Breads and cakes are my life, after all.
[...] Remember when I overcooked my lentils because I was so engrossed in wrestling this bad boy into homemade coconut butter? [...]
Very information and great to knnow how to make coconut butter from fresh grated coconut. If you had a coconut scrapper it will probably save you a good 30 mins. I just got mine in Chinatown for $3.50. I will try to make it at least once.
Thank you so much. Sorry about your injury. Coconut is dangerous to handle if you don’t have the right tool.