My Humble Coconut Grater

I requested a coconut grater as pasalubong from Ana when she came back from a vacation to the Philippines. Since then, I have been getting mature coconuts (niyog) from hannaford when I need freshly grated coconut for pan de coco or palitaw or pichi-pichi. Before this, I had tried getting some pre-grated coconut that seemed dessicated it was like eating shredded paper! I never would want to do that again!

Ana gave me a possible attachment to kitchen aid or a motor to come up with a motorized grater, but I have never gotten around to asking a machinist(?) to see whether it can be re-shaped to fit my kitchen aid. In any case, since I grate only 1-2 coconuts at a time, which takes about 5-10 minutes of grating (using my son power), this humble manual grater, which I attached to a plank then place on a seat during use, serves the purpose for which it was intended. This way, I can easily hide it out of sight when not in use, by squeezing it into a slim cupboard.

A manual coconut grater can be bought here for $5, but I could only imagine how hard that one is for the wrist and hand. A seat version is also available for $16, but storage would be the problem here, not to mention shipping costs for the wooden part. If only they sell something like mine, only with screw to attach it to a plank like I did, with the option to get a plank as well, I bet they would sell better. Maybe I should ask for someone to make these for me, then maybe I can sell them at amazon.com...hmmmm....