No More Prepackaged Coconut Water!

You may be a health nut, or just enjoy a good drink from time to time like me. If you have had coconut water, then you know how delicious it is.

If you haven't tried, then you owe it to yourself to try it. It's very mild tasting, but on the sweet side. A little nutty and it's really really good for you.

Coconut water is great for you

People call it "mother nature's sports drink." It's fat free, cholesterol free and has tons of potassium. It will hydrate you and replenish electrolytes fast.

Coconut water turns out to be one of the healthiest drinks you can consume, besides plain water.

But when you buy it at the store, you may not be getting the best quality. It could be pasteurized which kills many of the nutrients and flavor. Commercially produced coconut water may also have added sugar and other ingredients that kind of defeat the benefits of the natural coconut water.

I know sometimes you don't have any other option, but to buy canned or prepackaged water in those cardboard/plastic containers. But now you do.

Make your own coconut water instead

Well, you can't make coconut water. It comes straight from the coconut from palm trees and you're not going to grow coconut palm trees unless you have a lot of land and live in a tropical area. But you can extract the coconut water yourself.

You can actually buy the coconuts and get the water out yourself very easily. This is the freshest way to enjoy coconut water. It's not as difficult as it sounds.

Where to find Coconuts

The first thing  you need is fresh coconuts. The ones you want are commonly called Young Thai Coconuts. And they're the same as regular coconuts but they're really young and so the case that contains the water and flesh is quite soft and easy to open.

Usually you'll find them at the grocery store during the summer. By the time they get to the grocery store, they've already been prepped for you.

They have been trimmed down and shaped so that you can cut them open with a big knife, small machete or something. They also have a flat base so you can rest them on a table or counter top flat without it rolling around.

A collection of coconuts and Coco Jack related photos.

The problem with finding coconuts at the regular grocery stores like Ralphs, Albertsons or Safeway, is that they're usually too expensive.

Instead, go to the hispanic, middle-eastern or asian supermarkets in your area. They tend to carry young Thai coconuts even outside of the summer season and the prices are much better.

For example, the other day Ralphs had coconuts for 2.69 each! Sprouts had them for $2.89. Then I found them at H-mart, a Korean supermarket for 9 for $12 so each coconut came out to $1.33!

That's a good deal. Anytime you can find them for less than $2.00 each then you found a great deal and you should buy as many as you can.

Make sure you don't buy the hard, rough brown ones that look like little Flinstones bowling balls. These are the kind of coconuts that have really thick and tough flesh and oftentimes don't have any water left inside. Leave those for baking and cooking projects.

How do you open them?

Well, there's a few ways to open them. You can use a knife, but that's dangerous. I don't recommend it. You can use a butcher knife of cleaver but that's also dangerous and tricky. If you don't know what you're doing, you could end up injuring yourself or wasting the water.

You could get creative and use a drill to make a hole and insert a straw to drink the water, but then you can't get to the flesh. The flesh is delicious and one of the reasons why you want to get fresh coconuts instead of just the prepackaged water.

I found that the Coco Jack is the best way to open it. You can find the Coco Jack here on their website. They were recently featured on Shark Tank. I've tried all methods of opening the coconut, including some other tools available online, but this is by far the best.

Here's a quick video I made showing you how to open the coconuts with the Coco Jack. Someone gave it to me for father's day.

Now go get one of these, go get some coconuts and enjoy the purest and freshest coconut water you can find. You'll never want to drink that pre-packaged stuff again.

Oh yeah, here's a coupon that will give you a discount when you purchase the Coco Jack. Use discount code "SWEETCOCO" for 10% off.