. . . The green water coconuts are not the same as the Thai coconuts. I have been able to get these green water coconuts in only a few places; NY, Florida, Bahamas, Puerto Rico. I have not seen them in California. A friend of mine (in Calif.) was so curious about them that I had to send him some from here – VERY expensive. Then he went around to many places looking for them, to no avail. Then someone in a Latin market in downtown LA told him that they are not allowed to bring those (he called them Husk Coconuts) into CA because there are bugs in the husk. I don't know if that is actually true but it sounds like it might be.

The green water coconuts are great for fasting because the water is neutral tasting but very refreshing. Sometimes it has a very very slightly sweet flavor but not really sweet. When you get one that is REALLY sweet, that means that the coconut is not as fresh as it should be, and I pass on the water from those. When it is older it concentrates the sweetness.

Sometimes the water tastes very slightly fermented or sparkling – it is still good to drink then. Many of the coconuts don't have any meat in them at all. Some of the coconuts do have meat in them which is usually rubbery in texture and as delicious as the Thai coconut meat. Sometimes the meat is even softer, like a jelly film. The outside husk is either green or yellow. When the coconut is young and fresh, you can take a machete (or watermelon knife) and just sort of slice off a chunk of the husk on one side (not the end) and then cut a hole into it with a regular sharp knife and pour out the water. When the pros on the Islands open these coconuts, they hack off the end part. But here at home we have found that slicing into it from the side is easier and safer for us. Now, when the coconuts get old, you cannot slice into it like that because the husk is too hard – like when it starts to get old, the husk begins to petrify or something and then it is hard as a rock. So that is another way to tell whether they are young or old. But hopefully you recognize that before you buy them.

Green coconut water vs. juice.

The coconut water is more like a water fast rather than a juice fast. The appetite doesn't open up at all. The blood sugar stays normal – no ups and downs – probably because of the minerals in the water. It's not anything like the Thai coconut water which is too sweet and in my opinion not suitable for fasting.

This time I'm trying for 19 days. I've done these coconut water fasts every once in awhile since I was introduced to the coconuts in Puerto Rico at the Ann Wigmore Institute where they make them available to their guests. I formerly reached 14 days on the water. The first time I did it for 10 days and on the 8th day I was expelling so much mucous from my chest that I lost my voice. And another result of that 10 day green coconut water fast was that I started smelling a perfume that I used to wear years before and I smelled that perfume for approx. three weeks before it stopped coming out. It was incredibly annoying but I was glad that my body finally released it. Two years later, a Naturopathic doctor friend of mine suggested I do a pomegranate juice fast with some special herbs that he gave me and on the second day of that, the perfume smell CAME BACK AGAIN. And I thought I had gotten rid of all of it the first time!

With blessings and peace,