We are slowly becoming coconut connoisseurs. The brown ones yield the nut that we are familiar with in the UK. We open these by splitting them in two to get to the meat as they do for copra farming here in the Tuamotus and also in the San Blas. The traditional method is to "husk" them to extract the hard nut but that is quite difficult without a very strong fixed spike.

The younger green ones give us about half a litre of water which is deliciously tasty. We put diagonal cuts into the pointed section (facing down in the above picture) until we have removed the green fibrous material and can see nut. One clean machete blow then opens up the top and we can pour the water out ready to strain it. We actually put the water into ice cube trays and freeze it as it keeps well like that. The nut is then cleaved in two and the meat removed. It's more jelly like but that depends on the age of the nut. I like the jelly white substance, but some don't. Getting a green coconut relies on cutting them from a tree. Occasionally you find them on the ground but the crabs are very quick to get to them in that case.

The final stage is a sprouting nut. In these, the whole coconut is full of white fibrous deliciously tasty meat and no water. We were introduced to these by our local friend who was showing us the abandoned village at the northern end of the atoll.