Their wings span up to 9½ feet, and as recently as the 1980s, just 22 of them were known to exist in the world. The condors, the largest wild birds in North America, are what everyone wants to see. While we humans scramble around the ridges and crevices of the park, California condors, turkey vultures, eagles and assorted other raptors ride the breezes all around, some nesting among the highest minarets. Also, the Bear Gulch Reservoir - easily reached from the east side and surrounded by boulders - is a great setting for a trailside snack.
But for the rest of us, there are about 30 miles of trails that lead past boulder faces colored with lichen of red, orange, yellow and green. And probably chiroptophobics and ornithophobics also. So, basically, for claustrophobics and acrophobics, this is hell on Earth? Or, as the park service says, it’s “dangerous and challenging due to the inherently weak rock and poor protection.” (Also, some formations are closed annually from January through July to make room for nesting falcons and eagles.) The Pinnacles’ high peaks are mostly volcanic breccia, which is more vulnerable to crumbling, a different sort of challenge. But this is not the sturdy granite of Joshua Tree or Yosemite. The Condor Gulch Trail has similar payoffs - spectacular views and a route that wraps around the rocks. The topping is stabilized with gelatin so it doesn't sag and weep.(Christopher Reynolds / Los Angeles Times) Use coconut milk and coconut rum as well as dried coconut. THE RECIPE: Fight blandness in coconut cream pie.
Coconut shells are carved into bowls and kitchen utensils. The leaves are used for baskets, mats and roof thatches. Little goes to waste in the coconut palm. Rarely encountered: unripe coconuts, which have flesh like jelly that can be eaten from the shell coconut vinegar, a mild product made from the sap and water of the coconut palm or the coconut toddy, a fermented drink made from sap. However, in North America it is found mainly in commercial baked goods and toppings. It is popular for home cooking in some parts of the world. Coconut oil is a saturated fat, meaning it is solid at room temperature. It is formed into bars and packaged in boxes. (This doesn't work with coconut milk that has been artificially emulsified.) For homemade coconut cream, follow the instructions for coconut milk, but use one part water to four parts coconut meat, then enrich with milk.Ĭream of coconut is sweetened and used in cocktails.Ĭreamed coconut is an extract that is hard at room temperature. If you just need a few tablespoons, you can make do with a can of coconut milk that has separated. It is available in stores, but not widely. Recipe readers are confounded by the confusion over coconut cream, cream of coconut and creamed coconut.Ĭoconut cream is richer and denser than coconut milk. Mix equal parts boiling water and chopped coconut meat, let sit for an hour, strain through cheesecloth and discard the pulp. I don't bother to make coconut milk, but you can. The latter is blander, with an unappealing grey tinge. Fresher coconuts have more liquid and moister, more tender flesh.Ĭoconut milk, meanwhile, is sold in cans or powdered. The clear, slightly thick liquid in a coconut is mistakenly referred to as the "milk." More accurately, it is coconut water or juice.Īt the market, you should hear the liquid sloshing when you shake the coconut. It comes grated, in flakes or shreds, sweetened or unsweetened.
Desiccated coconut is sold in bags in the supermarket. Home cooks don't need to go to all that work to get some coconut meat.
If this offends you esthetically, strip it off with a vegetable peeler or paring knife. It has a thin brown crust that is edible. The flesh is pried in chunks from the woody shell. Or freeze it overnight, defrost and crack. Heat the coconut at 325F for about 15 minutes, then wrap it in a towel and tap it all over with a hammer. Some experts say heating or freezing makes a coconut easier to crack and the flesh easier to loosen. To get to the delicious, chewy, white coconut meat, bang along the equator of the shell and smash it into pieces. (It helps to rinse the shell first, to reduce grit and fibre falling into the liquid.) More nimble types (or foolhardy ones) opt to simply crack the shell and quickly pour out the liquid. Do the same with another eye, then pour out the liquid. Position an awl or screwdriver over one of the eyes, then rap with a hammer to make a hole. The oval shell has three round "eyes" at one end. Odds are that you have seen a contestant on Survivor hacking off such a pod with a machete, or a gardener, appropriately tipped, doing the same at your favourite Caribbean resort. The hard, "hairy" brown nut you find in the supermarket is actually the seed of the coconut palm. THE INFO: The coconut may be a tough nut to crack, but it's worth the effort.