Candied Coconut

I love the dried coconut we used to buy from Costco for road trips. Now that we're in Okinawa without Costco (SNIFF!), I ventured to make my own. SUPER tasty! Takes some time peeling, peeling, peeling, but it's so worth it. Especially if you have easy access to fresh coconut. I found this on one of my favorite recipe websites, allrecipes. Enjoy!!

Candied Coconut

1 whole coconut
1/4 c water
3/4 c sugar
1 tsp salt

1. Bake coconut for 15 minutes at 350 degrees, let cool and crack open with a hammer. Remove meat of coconut in as big of chunks as you can from hard shell. Peel brown skin off meat with peeler. Use peeler to cut meat into thin strips (or use sharp knife) about an inch or two long.
2. Add coconut strips to medium saucepan, cover with water and boil 5 minutes. Drain. Place coconut back into saucepan and add 1/4 c water, 3/4 c sugar and 1 tsp salt. Bring to boil over medium heat. Lower heat to as low as it’ll go while still simmering. Stir constantly until syrup dissipates.
3. Spread coconut out on cookie sheet to cool, separating and opening pieces before they cool. Store in an air right container.