Coconut is an essential cooking ingredient in many South and Southeast Asian societies. Grated coconut is most commonly used to make coconut milk, which is added to spice pastes to make ‘lemak’ (savoury) curries. Coconut milk is made by soaking grated coconut in water which is then squeezed and strained. Grated coconut is also fried to make ‘sambal seronding’ (a type of condiment) or used as a garnish. Ingenious yet simple tools like the one seen here have been devised to extract coconut ‘meat’ from its hard shell.A coconut half is twisted against the serrated end of the grater to create fine shavings. The graters are designed like a stool that the user can straddle or sit side-saddle, providing good leverage for grating. Slightly convex rasps mounted on wooden frames were also used.
