Besides the prickly pear (nopal, en español), I was able to get a coconut by standing on the combination of my laptop case on top of my trumpet, which I carry around with me on one of those small collapsible hand-trucks which one can buy at Target or Wal-mart. In effect, I was standing on my laptop. Don't try this at home kids. I opened the coconut to get the liquid in my usual penknife manner; first slice a thin part of the hull off to a diameter of 2 inches or more, to have a clean place to place your lips (car exhaust and other pollutants would tend to deposit on the outer hull). This process also cleans your knife, if you have been using it on animals or other less-than-clean things. Then, holding the freshly-exposed inner hull upwards, cut a hole about 1/2 inch diameter in the center of the exposed area. Juice will likely squirt out when you first insert the knife, so be warned. Anyway, once the hole is done, just lift to your lips and drink. This is only for unripe, green or yellow coconuts (the coloration is, I think, a genetic thing, as for Mendel's peas).
By the way, did you know that both the fruit and lobes of the prickly pear are edible? To me, the lobes are better eating than the fruit, though that may vary from variety to variety. On both, make sure to cut off not only the big thorns, but also the little fuzzy ones that make you itch. It's bad enough on your hands, you don't want those nasty things in your throat.
last updated 2013-01-10 20:12:55. served from tektonic.jcomeau.com
