Young Green Coconuts.
Most Americans have seen and tasted the milk and meat of the mature (brown, hairy) coconut; a green coconut is really the same food, but it is just younger. Sometimes the green outer shells are cut off before they are shipped to U.S. markets. Look for either the green shell or a white "husk" if the outer shell has been removed. You may not see them in the produce section of your big-chain supermarket, but they are readily available in Asian, Latino, and other ethnic or farmers' markets. Many health food stores will carry them upon request.

What People Say About Coconut Water Kefir

•  It completely stops your cravings for sugar. Imagine the benefits of that!
•  It aids digestion of all foods
•  It has a tonifying affect on the intestines, even flattening the abdomen!
•  It appears to cleanse the liver. In Chinese medicine the liver rules the skin, eyes, and joints. Coconut water kefir eases aches and joint pains. Many people report having a prettier complexion. They experience the brown liver spots on the skin fading away and skin tags, moles, or warts drying up and disappearing. Vision also improves.
•  It contains high levels of valuable minerals, including potassium, natural sodium, calcium, and magnesium, which explains why the hair, skin and nails become stronger and have a prettier shine.
•  It appears to have a beneficial, cleansing effect on the endocrine system (adrenals, thyroid, pituitary, ovaries). Women find that their periods are cleaner and healthier; some who had experienced early menopause have found this important monthly cleansing returning again.
•  It increases energy and gives you an overall feeling of good health.

Young green coconuts yield several delicious foods. You can ferment the water (not "coconut milk") into that delicious, healing kefir. You can also eat the very special meat. Soft, pudding-like, and technically a seed, this meat is high in protein, enzyme-rich, and very easy to digest. Like all seeds and nuts, it is a protein fat, but this seed provides an excellent source of lauric and caprylic fatty acids. You can scoop the meat out of the shell and eat it raw, or you can put it in a blender with enough water to make it the same consistency of guacamole and then ferment it. Just add our kefir starter, and in 24 hours, you'll have a sort of kefir "cheese," a fabulous fermented base for salad dressings, dips, or just plain eating as is. It's like eating yogurt, only it's dairy-free.

How to Crack Those Coconuts
First, remove the water inside the young coconut and use it to make kefir. To do this, use a screwdriver and a mallet. Rest the screwdriver on the pointed head of the coconut and pound it several times until you break through the coconut shell making a hole. Rout out this hole to make it bigger. Flip the coconut over into a glass jar. Using the screwdriver again, pound a hole in the soft spot of the bottom of the coconut. (This may take a few attempts to find). Rout out the hole to make it bigger. Then let the water pour out.
Use the water from about 2 coconuts with one package of starter. Warm the water slightly to approximately 90. Pour the warmed water into a glass jar and add starter culture. Let the coconut sit on the counter for 36 hours. You'll know it is done when the color changes to a milky white and usually there's a bit of bubbling or foam on top. This means all the sugar has been removed. When you drink it, make sure it tastes tart and tangy. This is another sign that all the sugar is gone. Its medicinal benefits are well worth the time it takes to make it! REMEMBER, IF THE COCONUT WATER IS PINK IT IS NOT GOOD - JUST THROW IT OUT!

Special Notes: You can use about 6 Tbsp from your first quart to "transfer" the friendly bacteria to your next quart of kefir. Do this up to seven times with one package of starter. Your second batch of kefir will only take 24 hours to ferment since the microflora are now awake and will start working on the sugars immediately. It's best to warm the liquid to about 90 degrees before adding the starter so that the microflora wake up quickly and begin to feed on the sugar, especially when the weather turns cold. Then place the glass jar into an insulated container so it will maintain a steady temperature of about 70 degrees while fermenting.

Getting to the meat of the coconut takes a little more work. We suggest you use a Chinese cleaver and a mallet to split the coconut shell, then take a spoon and remove the soft spoon meat. Wash off any brown shell and place the spoon meat into a blender with enough coconut water to make a creamy smooth pudding. Add several tablespoons of the already fermented coconut kefir water to the pureed spoon meat or use culture starter and let your pudding sit out at 70 degrees for 8 hours to ferment.

Ways to Enjoy Coconut Water Kefir
Remember, since you now have two more cultured foods in your healing arsenal, you can devise many different ways to eat them. A half cup of the coconut water kefir with meals greatly helps digestion. You can add ginger, Stevia, lemon, and/or lime if desired. A half cup at bedtime will help establish a healthy inner ecosystem. Studies from Europe show that when you are lying still during sleep, the microflora reproduce faster. In the morning, combine a half cup of the young coconut water with unsweetened cranberry or black currant juice, as a great wake-up tonic.