I have a tasting next week, with a Hawaiian theme. One of the desserts, I would like to garnish with strips of fresh coconut, coated in chocolate. I could use a peeler to cut the coconut, and then pour chocolate over the strips, but I'm looing for a bit more elegance. Hmmm...I just thought of a zester. I wonder if that would work??? Anyone have any related ideas?

momoreg,
what if you took the peeler idea one step further? roll strips(as wide and as tight as possible)made roses,mums, or lillys,tinting white choc.with approprate colors for a tropical theme.

Why is it not O.K. for a coconut to look like a coconut? Roses and mums are not tropical. Some lilys are tropical.
Fresh coconut is not easy to dip- it is very wet and continues to exude moisture after it is cut.
Polynesian cultures learned to deal with coconut in a few ways that are still utilized today.
Grating and then squeezing the flesh ( which would be later dried) is one way. The moisture derived from the flesh is the milk. drying the flesh is another way. This is used a lot for baking, granola etc...
I would be curious about the dessert. I spent over 15 years cooking (and baking) professionally there. I lived there too (and soon to return).

vbean,
I was wondering about the moisture factor. Maybe I can toast the strips beforehand. I think it may be more realistic to just dip the tips, since this is a party for 500.
Chefrick,
The flowers are a cute idea, but since you now know the count, you can probably see why I'd prefer to keep it simple.

Incidentally,
I wonder if the coconut would hold a flower shape long enough to toast it into that shape. That would look cool!

I would do some playing around with grated meat semi dried. Maybe 20% florentine batter and dried meat, templete, dipped in choco.Maybe coconut tuile? Just some thoughts

huh?

Panini, please excuse me, but what is florentine batter? Would this be a fried dish? Hmmm...fried coconut meat with a caramel and/or chocolate sauce...Sounds good. I think I might have to try doing that one.

Karl

Whats da matta, yous guys dont speek inglish. You know lace cookies with roasted coco. Or maybe large roasted shaving tuiles done in patterns?
I did't understand myself either.Again hands are for speaking not typing!

Panini,

I thought you meant actual MEAT! Well anyway, I finally figured out how I wanted to do it. Today I quartered a coconut, and put it on the deli slicer, cutting "C" shaped slices, about as thich as a Ruffles potato chip (thick). I dried it in a 250 oven for a few hours, then toasted it lightly. The tips will get dipped in chocolate, and I plan to use 3 as a garni for a frozen macadamia/honey souffle.

How does it taste? Sounds good. Salt?

It was a little bit bland, but the texture was great. I was thinking of adding something for flavor, along with salt. Maybe I could dip them in a honey & sugar syrup, then sprinkle them lightly with kosher salt before drying.