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Just cracked open fresh coconut. Water is sweet, meat is thin, bland and soft. As a kid years ago, coconut meat was very firm and thick. Is this soft, bland coconut safe to eat?

rumtscho
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Karen
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    Sounds like a young coconut. Is the shell pale? (see http://cooking.stackexchange.com/q/51575/23376 ) – Ching Chong Mar 01 '15 at 18:41
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    If the water is sweet then coconut is safe to eat. This coconut is called 'tender coconut' and it is considered a delicacy in India. It costs 3 to 4 times that of coconut. – One Face Mar 04 '15 at 11:06

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Exactly. No harm will be done and if it was off, the smell would knock you over so you wouldn't dare drink it anyway. This coconut was picked too early, or in the wrong season and so had developed no flesh to speak of. Its very frustrating when this happens as you have usually paid good money for it. In Far North Queensland, Aus, they sell them in the markets with their tops lopped off in front of you and and a straw stuck in to drink the water, then they chop them in half and give you the 'lid' to eat the flesh. With coconut water so in demand, all sorts of rubbish ends up in the shops in major cities (Melbourne) where you have no comeback for a dud.Nectar of the gods when fresh and full of flesh. A meal in a sitting.

Lucinda in Oz
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There are different types of coconuts as well as coconuts sold at various stages of growth. King coconut have orange-yellow outer shells and are generally full of coconut water and only a very small amount of coconut meat. The king coconut meat tends to be somewhat gelatinous and translucent. Young coconut are from the other kind of coconut that's usually grown for its meat. The young coconut will be more like the king coconut - lots of coconut water, only a small amount of gelatinous translucent meat. More mature coconut will have less coconut water and more meat.

The coconut meat at all stages is perfectly safe to eat, and the coconut water at all stages is perfectly safe to drink. Unless it's gone bad, of course.

LMAshton
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