Our oldest granddaughter, Ashley, with Codi, Elizabeth and I made family history with my mom, Virginia, looking on.

It started when I saw a pile of coconuts in the grocery store and explained to Ashley how my mom baked one coconut pie each year for Easter. Ashley said, “Let’s bake one!” We followed Mom’s recipe from her 1940 cookbook; Ashley used a 2020 approach.

When I was 7 through age 14, Mom taught me how to use a sharp knife to drill a hole in one of the coconut eyes. Drilling deeper and deeper, the hole opened, and I poured out the coconut water into a glass. I remember drinking it. It was not that tasty — neither then nor last week.

I used my dad’s ball peen hammer, then and now, to open the coconut’s shell. I struck the coconut again and again. Then one more smack created two halves. The white meat of the coconut was pure and thick.

Next, I used my knife and peeled off the white meat. It took about 30 minutes to produce about 14 white coconut pieces.

There were differences in Ashley and Codi’s approach. Codi used a large knife to hit and hit and finally opened their coconut. He used a wine bottle corkscrew, not a knife, to drill the hole. Ashley used the grinder attachment on their Kitchen Aid mixer to shred the coconut in seconds.

Elizabeth and I, and Mom’s, shredding seemed crazy to those we told! We hooked up a new meat grinder to the edge of our kitchen table. I ground until the coconut started coming out the holes of the grinder, about 30 minutes of hard hand-cranking.

Ashley and Codi baked coconut cookies. Elizabeth and I baked two coconut pies.

Ashley’s cookies were great. Our pies were spectacular.

When we posted this old-fashioned and new adventure on Facebook, several friends remembered their past. Edith Mitchell wrote, “I did that for years, but when I found fresh frozen coconut, I started buying that.”

Becky Nichols posted, “I have had to do all that when I was younger because of my grandmother.”

This adventure was not about making pies or cookies. It was about bringing back my mom’s memory.

I could feel her presence as she let me do it all by myself — 70 years later. It was about honoring and remembering the life and memory of those who are so precious to you but gone.

Do you have a family coconut baking story to tell about your mom or grandma’s cooking? Did your grandma use a meat grinder for something other than meat? Why don’t you create something this week from those memories of your mom and dad? Then tell us. We look forward to your story.

Oliver Hedgepeth, a native Wilsonian, is a professor of logistics, teaching online at the American Military University. Email him at blh4835@gmail.com.

Mom’s Coconut Pie

INGREDIENTS

1 coconut

2 eggs

1 cup sugar

½ stick butter

¼ teaspoon vanilla

1 tablespoon flour

¾ cup milk

DIRECTIONS

Mix all ingredients together and pour into two unbaked pie shells; bake 350 degrees about 45 minutes or until brown.

Ashley and Codi’s Coconut Cookies

INGREDIENTS 

½ cup unsalted butter softened

¾ cup light brown sugar

1 egg

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

1 ¼ cup all-purpose flour

1 teaspoon baking soda

½ teaspoon salt

1 cup sweetened shredded coconut, toasted.

DIRECTIONS 

Preheat oven to 350°. Cream butter and sugar together; add egg and vanilla, stir to combine. In separate bowl, combine flour, baking soda, salt and ½ cup of shredded coconut; then, pour dry ingredients into wet ingredients. Use mixer to stir. It may take a few seconds for it to come together, but if the dough still seems too dry, add 1 tablespoon milk and that should do the trick. Last, stir in the remaining coconut by hand. Spray a large baking sheet with nonstick spray (or use parchment), then use an ice cream scooper to scoop cookie dough onto the baking sheet. Bake cookies for 12 minutes, or until the edges are set. Remove from the oven and wait 2-3 minutes before transferring cookies to a cooling rack.