Coconuts have many health benefits, and are a staple ingredient in many different meals. Whether you are making coconut curry, or something more exotic, you will ideally need some freshly grated coconut. However, this is easier said than done, as extracting and shredding the coconut is a long and tedious task if done manually.
There are quite a few different hand tools you can use to get this job done, but neither of them really make the job easy. That is until recently, thanks to some of the electric coconut grater machines appearing on the market. Can they make your life a bit easier? Let’s see if we can find out below.
How do you use an electric coconut scraper?
The basic idea is that is you cut the coconut in half, and then hold it against the shredder blade while rotating it around until all the meat has been shredded off. Now this seems to work quite well, unless you have very small coconuts which are hard to keep hold of. It is a little awkward to do it at first, but once you have done a few coconuts it tends to get a little easier.
Which is the best coconut scraper?
This probably comes as no surprise, but there aren’t a huge number of electric coconut scraping machines for sale on the market today. The most obvious reason for this is simply down to the awkward shape of the coconut. Once it is cut open, there is simply no straightforward way to shred the meat inside. That doesn’t mean it can’t be done though, and a Miami based company called Gitachi has aimed to do just that. They have released 4 different electric shredder models, designed to make this task a little bit easier. In this article we are going to have a closer look at the more affordable 120 volt model. This particular one retails for around $150 with shipping, so it isn’t too pricey.
Let’s take a closer look at it now.
Gitachi Electric Coconut Grater
This is actually a 2-in-1 model, as it includes the coconut shredder and a knife/metal sharpener. We aren’t a 100% sure why they decided to include the metal sharpener with this model, perhaps to sharpen the knives which cut open the coconuts? However, we can’t see any obvious downsides to it. The sharpener is on the left side of the machine, while the shredding unit is on the right. On the front of the machine is the on / off switch, and operating the machine is as easy as flipping this switch.
Design
In terms of aesthetics, this coconut scraping machine is not going to win any design awards. The main unit is a creamy white color, while the shredder features a steel blade. Surrounding the shredder blade is the catchment bowl, which seems to be stainless steel. Overall it is a rather dull design, and it looks a little dated in 2016. However, we aren’t too bothered about the looks, as long as it works well.
Performance
Now this leads to the big question – how does it actually work? From our research, it seems to work very well. The 120- volt electric coconut scraper has enough power to get through most coconuts in a short time. Once you have a bit of practice, you should be able to do a whole coconut in around a minute. This should save a significant amount of time for most folks, so it certainly seems like it works well.
Included is a pair of gloves, to protect your hand against making any contact with the blade. These gloves seem decent, and should provide adequate protection in case your hands were to accidentally come into contact with the blade.
Cleaning and maintenance
Cleaning the electric coconut grater machine is a fairly quick and easy task. This is done by using the included brush to clean the blade, and wiping down the collecting bowl with a paper towel. If you are worried about spares for this machine, then you will be happy to hear that you can buy spare shredding blades, and sharpening discs. Replacement blades retail for $30, while the sharpening discs cost $10. The company even offer a repair and refurbishment service for $80, which reconditions your machine to a newish state.
Are there any issues with it?
So it sounds good so far, but are there any downsides to this coconut scraping machine? There are a few minor things that we feel that we should talk about. The first issue is with small coconuts, which we mentioned briefly above. If your hand slips while holding one of these small coconuts, then your hand may come quite close to the blade. There is nothing that you can do to really avoid this, aside from getting bigger coconuts which you can grip firmly. This problem is not unique to this particular model, but happens with all of them.
Also worth mentioning is that the machine does get a little warm if you are using it for over 5 minutes. Being a non professional electric coconut scraper, this isn’t really designed for heavy use so this is to be expected. If you are looking to do a large quantity of coconuts, then it might be better to look at one of the more powerful machines offered by the company.
Summary
So is this a good purchase? We think so. Aside from a few minor flaws talked about above, this electric coconut grater machine certainly gives you a quicker way to shred coconuts. If this is a daily task for you, then you can save a bit of time by using this machine. This is a fairly unique product, but it is certainly worth a look. At the time of writing it has a 4-star user rating on Amazon, which is quite respectable. You can find out more about this particular model, and read some of the user reviews of this machine over on the Amazon product page.
