Coconut Milk

I still vividly remember our first Saturday in Tonga, when we went to the home of a Returned Volunteer to learn how to make some local foods ... I was amazed that coconuts had husks or shells, I thought they just grew on the trees exactly how they looked in a store at home. Not so. Below is a little show of how the look to begin with and after having the husk removed.




















I also thought that coconut milk was the liquid inside the coconut when it was cracked open. This was definitely not the case! In fact, the coconut meat has to be grated (Jason is grating the split coconuts in the photo below), then a small amount of water added to it, then squeezed (either between your hands or in a small towel) and the liquid that comes out is the "milk." It is quite a process and ends up being a lot of hard work anytime we want to make some Thai curry, but well worth the effort and one of the activities that reminds me the most of where I am living, which I love!