Cup of Yum
1. Break open coconut with hammer. Remove the hard outer shell. Peel the soft outer shell with a vegetable peeler.
2. Grate the fresh coconut meal according to desired result. Use small holes for fine shreds, normal big holes for typical shredded coconut, and use the grater slicer for chips. Alternatively, for the chips, peeling with vegetable peeler makes a cleaner and more attractive chip -- but it is a bit thicker.
3. Dry in oven, convection oven, or dehydrator. How long they take to dry will depend on the size of the coconut pieces and the temperature of your oven or dehydrator.
4. Spread the coconut chips or shreds in a single layer for drying. Here are some ideas of how long it will take each size to dry. Small and medium shreds will take about 2 hours for small and 3 hours for medium in a 100 - 125 °F (40 - 50 °C) convection oven. The chips will take a little longer and will dry in a dehydrator in about 6 hours at 125°F.
5. The chips will dehydrate in about an hour in a regular oven at 60ºC/140ºF. It may take longer, depending on your oven.

Sweetened Version

1. If you'd like to make sweetened shredded coconut, for every cup of coconut that you want to sweeten, combine 4 teaspoons of sugar or a low-carb sweetener like xylitol with 1/4 cup water.
2. Combine the sugar and water in a small saucepan and heat over low heat until the sugar dissolves and makes a simple syrup.
3. Add the coconut to the pan.
4. Remove from the heat and stir occasionally until the liquid absorbs.
5. Spread the coconut on a baking sheet let it dry in the oven, in a dehydrator, or at room temperature.

Toasted Version

1. For toasted sweetened coconut, leave the coconut in the oven until lightly browned.
2. No matter which temperature you dry your coconut at in an oven, it's a good idea to check on it after 15 minutes or so, toss or stir well, then return to the oven and check every 10 minutes to shake and toss to prevent burning.