The Lakro Heavy Duty Coconut Scraper (model LCS-02) is the electric scraper Lakro builds for kitchens that go through coconuts by the dozen rather than one or two at a time: hotel and restaurant kitchens, caterers, and the households that cook for a crowd every weekend. You hold a half nut against the spinning stainless steel head, and the white flesh comes away as fine, even shreds that drop into a deep bowl in front of the blade.
It is designed and made in Sri Lanka by Lakro Inventions, a small engineering company in Baduraliya that has been building coconut scrapers since 2009. In a country where scraped coconut goes into almost every meal — pol sambol, mallung, kiri bath, coconut roti, and the milk behind nearly every curry — a scraper is not a gadget but the busiest tool in the kitchen, and this one is built for that kind of use.
What is on the machine. A white motor drum sits on a square base, with a carry handle across the top so the whole machine can be lifted off the counter in one hand. The press-button safety switch is set into the top of that handle. On the front of the base are a red power indicator lamp and the rating plate; on its side is a fuse holder, and the back of the motor drum has two ventilation grilles to let the motor breathe through a long session. At the front, a wide flared bowl with a pouring lip surrounds the serrated, star-shaped stainless steel scraping head, catches the shreds as they come off, and lets you tip them straight into a dish. A white blade guard covers the head when the machine is not in use.
Voltage: 220–230 V only. This model is built for a 220–230 V, 50–60 Hz supply, as printed on both the machine and the carton — right for Sri Lanka, the United Kingdom and Europe, the Middle East, most of Asia and Africa, Australia and New Zealand. There is no 110 V build of the heavy duty machine. If your kitchen runs on 110–120 V, as in the United States and Canada, choose the Lakro Domestic Electric Coconut Scraper, which is sold in a 110 V build. A travel plug adapter changes the shape of the pins, not the voltage.
One machine, two model numbers. The carton and the rating plate call this machine the LCS-02; Lakro's own website lists the same machine as the LCS-007. If you are matching it to one you already own, either number will find it.
What it is good for:
- Hotels, restaurants and caterers — the kitchens Lakro builds it for, where scraping by hand is hours of someone's day.
- Coconut milk — fine shreds give up more milk under the squeeze than a coarse hand-scraped pile, for both the thick first press and the thinner second.
- Sri Lankan and South Indian cooking — sambols, mallung, curries, roti, pittu and string-hopper accompaniments all start with freshly scraped coconut.
- Sweets and baking — fresh shreds for wattalappam, coconut toffee, cakes and puddings.
- Festivals and family gatherings — Avurudu, weddings, almsgivings and parties, when a dozen nuts have to be scraped before the cooking can start.
Technical data
- Model: LCS-02 (listed by the maker as LCS-007)
- Power: 150 W motor
- Voltage: 220–230 V, 50–60 Hz — no 110 V build
- Blade: serrated stainless steel scraping head, with blade guard
- Controls and protection: press-button safety switch on the handle, power indicator lamp, fuse
- Body: white housing, flared collecting bowl with pouring lip, carry handle, ventilated motor drum
- Power cable: approximately 120 cm
- Net weight: approximately 4.65 kg; packed weight approximately 5 kg
- Carton: approximately 25 × 25 × 33 cm
- Plug: Sri Lankan type — a plug adapter is likely to be needed abroad
- Made in Sri Lanka by Lakro Inventions
Using it. Stand the machine on a flat, steady worktop within reach of the socket. Take off the blade guard, switch on, and hold the half nut squarely against the head, working from the outer rim of the flesh towards the centre rather than pressing hard in the middle — you get a cleaner shell and finer shreds. Do not cover the ventilation grilles while it runs. When you have finished, switch off at the socket and wait for the head to stop before you touch it; wipe the bowl and blade down while the coconut is still moist, refit the blade guard, and never put the motor body in water.
For a home kitchen that scrapes a coconut or two a day, the smaller Lakro Domestic Electric Coconut Scraper has a speed dial and comes in both 220 V and 110 V builds.
