Instructions

1. Go to your local fruit market or grocery store and buy a coconut. Select a heavy coconut free from cracks and leakage which has an ample amount of liquid. You can determine this by holding the coconut in one hand and shaking it for the sound of liquid. Check the coconut for a line around the middle which is scoring; a scored coconut is much easier to open.

2. Drain the milk from the coconut by firmly tapping the ice pick into the three black holes at the top of the coconut until punctured. Drain coconut milk into a bowl.

3. Place the coconut on the cutting board. Hold the coconut firmly with one hand. Forcefully hit the coconut along the scored line in the middle with the blunt side of the meat cleaver until the coconut splits apart. This should take approximately three hard strikes.

4. Remove the coconut meat from the broken coconut pieces using a coconut scraper. Place scrapped coconut meat into a piece of cheesecloth. Squeeze the cheesecloth over the bowl so the coconut milk is strained from the scrapped coconut meat.

5. Soak the cheesecloth with pressed coconut meat in water for a few minutes. Then squeeze the cloth over the bowl again to remove the remaining milk from the cheesecloth.

6. Cover the bowl of coconut milk and allow to sit undisturbed for 15-20 hours at room temperature. The coconut milk will separate into three layers. The top layer is protein, the second layer is the oil and the bottom layer is the water.

7. Remove the protein layer by skimming it off with a spoon. Using a turkey baster, carefully suction up the coconut oil and place it in a clean dry container. Be careful not to mix the oil with the bottom layer of water. Make sure the tip of the baster is in the oil layer before suctioning to ensure only the oil is removed.