Homemade Coconut Milk

Coconut Milk is one of my favorite alternatives to cow's milk. It's great for those who are lactose intolerant. It works for vegans and vegetarians. It's nut-free so those with nut allergies can enjoy it too!

Coconut milk also has fantastic health benefits! Coconut milk is made up of short chain and medium-chain fatty acids, which the body is able to easily convert to usable energy. So even though coconut is saturated fat, it is quickly used up by the body instead of being stored as fat. About half of the medium chain fatty acids in coconut are composed of Lauric Acid. Lauric acid is anti-fungal, anti-bacterial, anti-viral, anti-microbial, and whatever anti you can think of. Coconut is also packed with vitamins, minerals and electrolytes. 

Coconut milk is also super versatile. You can drink it straight up and it's fantastic. You can make homemade coffee creamer with it. You can make coconut milk based soups like Tom ka gai with it and it will be some of the best soup you've ever had! You can use it as the liquid in your smoothies. You can make ice cream with it. You can make yogurt with it. There are so many things you can do with coconut milk.

But there are a few good reasons NOT to buy it at the grocery store. The first is the price! This stuff can be expensive! Especially an organic canned version. You may pay $2.50 a can! For this recipe I use less than one bag of organic shredded coconut. It cost $2.99 and it makes four cups! By my calculations, that's about a 70% cost savings, give or take. Next, if you buy it in the can, even the organic stuff, you're getting more than you bargained for. Those cans are lined with BPA unless otherwise specified on the can. The organic canned version I have does not say "No BPA", therefore, it's in there. I don't want it and I certainly don't need it. Another common ingredient found in canned versions is guar gum. Guar Gum is used as a thickening agent and has potential hazardous side side effects including but not limited to intestinal blockages, glucose fluctuations and colon cancer (Thatcher et al). That's not something I need or want either! It;s just too easy not to make your own. Try it out! Here's the recipe:

Ingredients:
-2 cups shredded, unsweetenedd coconut (I like the Let's Do Organic brand. I know you can find it at Whole Foods but It's also found in the organic section of many grocery stores, and you can definitely get it on Amazon).
-4 cups of water
-optional flavor agents (Vanilla, almond extract, berries, cocoa or cacao)

Directions:
-Heat your water to a simmer. Pour it in the blender. Add your coconut to the blender.
-Blend on high for 2 minutes.
-At this time, add in your flavor agents if using. I used vanilla in this one, but it's equally delicious plain. A little cocoa added in and you have chocolate coconut milk. A little cocoa and some almond extract and you have Almond Joy flavored coconut milk. YUM! Blend to incorporate.
-Pour the mixture through a fine mesh seive, making sure to push down the pulp to get all of the liquid out.
-At this point your milk is ready to drink! If you want to make it extra smooth, pour the milk through cheesecloth or a nutmilk bag to get the rest of the fine particles out. Enjoy!

Note- you can make as much or as little of this as you want at a time. Just use a 2:1 ratio of water to coconut. This will keep in an airtight container in the fridge for about a week. The solids may separate. That's ok, just mix it up and you're good to go.

*Please use organic ingredients when possible

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Thatcher, Elizabeth. "The Harmful Side Effects of Guar Gum." LIVESTRONG.COM. N.p., 29 Mar. 2011. Web. 25 Apr. 2013.