Fresh Raw Coconut Milk
It all started with a craving for raw Pad Thai. I haven’t made it yet, and have been wanting to for quite a while. Knowing that coconut milk is an important ingredient that I want in my Pad Thai sauce, I set out to make fresh, raw coconut milk for my raw Pad Thai raw food recipe.
I use young Thai coconuts all the time. I open them with ease (see here) and am very familiar with how to use them. Traditional coconut milk is made from mature coconuts. Something I am not familiar with at all. I bought a couple and brought them home and stared at them for days. The hairy little buggers intimidated me. In fact, they down right scared me.
I have memories, as a very little girl, of my mother trying to open a coconut. I believe there were hammers, chisels, and maybe even a car involved. Much huffing and puffing, and extreme frustration. There may have even been a few off color words from my very prim and proper mother. A frightening scenario for a little girl. Honestly, I also think there was quite a lot of laughing as each attempt failed and each following attempt got more extreme. I seem to remember the final attempt involving her 64 pontiac.
Well, here is the thing. Opening those hairy little guys is actually a piece of cake. A little research on line and I was able to pop right through the shell and dive into one of the most heavenly substances I have encountered for a while. Traditionally coconut milk is made from mature coconuts and I quickly found out why. The flesh is pure coconut heaven. Very different from the young coconuts.
To open the coconut, simply tap (ok…whack) the coconut around the midline with the back of a cleaver.
After a couple of good whacks, you will hear a crack. Keep turning and tapping and within seconds, the coconut will have split! You will want to do this over a bowl as there is water inside. Discard the water.
You can then either pry out the flesh with a table knife or my favorite, turn it over, give the outside shell a good whack with a hammer and the flesh will just pop right out (this does require breaking the shell).
Once you pop the flesh out, peel off the brown skin with a vegetable peeler. Chop up the coconut and put it in the high-speed blender. Add water, blend and then strain through a nut-milk bag or a few layers of cheese cloth.
The extra pulp can be dehydrated at 115 degrees until dry. Give it a quick spin in the blender after it is dry and you have lovely, fragrant raw coconut flour!
Raw Coconut Flour
Tips for your Coconut Milk
You can keep blending the coconut milk with more coconut flesh until you get coconut cream. Note: If your coconut milk sits in the refrigerator the fat will collect on the top. You can give it a quick spin in the blender to reincorporate it.
Fresh Raw Coconut Milk
MAKES 4 CUPS
- 1 to 4 mature coconuts (depending on how thick you want your milk)
- 3 cups water
- Remove flesh from coconut (see above)
- Place the flesh from one coconut in high-speed blender with 3 cups water and blend a few minutes.
- Strain through nut-milk bag. (Set pulp aside to dehydrate for coconut flour)
To make thicker coconut milk:
- Take coconut milk you just made and blend with second coconut in high-speed blender. Strain through nut-milk bag.
pumpkinopolitan wrote on July 30, 2012
Hello
I would love to try your recipe when I have the time and manage to get my hands on a coconut. Just wondering, how long does the raw coconut milk keep for refrigerated? How do you recommend taking this coconut milk — drink as is or more for incorporating into cooked dishes? I was thinking of using it as a non-dairy milk in smoothies and coffee and using it to make vegan ice cream.
Susan wrote on July 30, 2012
It would work for both those purposes. It keeps for a few days. Think about how long fresh ingredients keep. It is a fresh ingredient. Cheers!
Liana wrote on July 29, 2012
Love the pictures, super helpful. I looooove coconut yet am doing all raw now so this is my only option now. However, I am slightly confused since coconut milk isn’t actually an ingredient in Pad Thai (Google did turn up a decent number of other recipes, but you’d never see that in a restaurant). But to each their own…I’m sure it’s still super good 🙂
Susan wrote on July 29, 2012
No, coconut milk isn’t a traditional pad thai recipe. I was being non-traditional and using artistic licence. 🙂
Lisa Reynoso wrote on July 15, 2012
I can’t wait to show this to my husband. He’s from the Caribbean and used to open coconuts with a machete–which we don’t have anymore. Does it have to be a cleaver, or will any large knife do? I don’t have a cleaver.
I’m new to this site–found it from a friend’s raw food board on Pinterest. I’m intrigued by raw food and want to try some raw meals now and then. With a new baby (6 days old) I am not even cooking right now, but we just got a big Excalibur dehydrator and plan on getting a Vitamix this weekend while my Costco-card-holding mother is here, because I’m so tired of my little Oster blender that is malfunctioning lately, and my Ninja that doesn’t blend as fine as the Oster, in spite of being more powerful. So I’ll be all set to try some real raw un-cooking. 🙂 I’m going to start with crackers made from a recipe I got at a raw food demo a couple of works ago. By the time I get my blender, the buckwheat should be sprouted enough.
Susan wrote on July 15, 2012
Lisa! What a great start you have. You can use any larger knife. I usually just grab my chef’s knife. Good luck!
JoAnn wrote on May 3, 2012
Hi Susan!
I landed on your blog long ago and ever since then I’ve been loving the great posts and pictures. But I came to you specifically for this coconut milk recipe when my son had an allergic reaction to coconut milk powder in a haupia dessert mix. Little did I know at the time how it was made. I have to be careful not to get casein into my son’s diet. I have never opened a coconut before, so it was a bit funny, but I got it!
Thank you!
Susan wrote on May 2, 2012
It is the water from the young Thai coconuts that is really nutritious. The older coconut’s water does not have the same level of nutrients.
Kristina wrote on May 2, 2012
Wonderful, thanks so much for the great information! My milk came out wonderfully.
Don’t discard the water! It is nutritious, you get more for your money, and it is way better than buying the pasteurized coconut water at the store! Drink it or use it in some other useful way. 🙂
Matthew wrote on April 24, 2012
Awesome post, very detailed and great photos! I’m inspired to take my coconut popcorn to a new level with getting my own oil and flakes from a coconut!
Jeani wrote on April 23, 2012
Oh, happy day, Susan!!
Last summer the Walmart here sold the baby Thai coconuts for $1.99, but they have stopped for some reason. So I haven’t used the big, hairy, beastly coconuts because it is such a hassle to open them. It’s made me sad.
Then you posted the kelp noodle dish, and I quickly glanced at your instructions for opening the cocos, but did not read the comments. I picked one up at the store and went to work last night. How unbelievably easy!
I did have a problem with the dehydrating process. I have an Excalibur and no matter what temperature you use, the air flow is always pretty turbulent in there. The coconut pulp was so fine and light, it was blowing all over the place. I tried several different ways to keep it in place, and finally settled on my straining bag. I knotted the top and laid it as flat as possible on a mesh screen, turned it a couple times before I went to bed, and it was perfect this morning. It is so fine and delicate. Next time I will try the tip that someone left about putting the nut in the freezer for 30 minutes.
Anyway, my mother thought the cold coconut milk was regular whole cow’s milk. She has dementia, so I will let her keep thinking that, since she sometimes likes a bowl of cereal with milk, and this is easy enough to whip up quickly.
By the way, what is the best way to store this coco flour? I put it in a container in the freezer.
Thank you again!
Maggie wrote on April 16, 2012
I just tried making coconut milk the other day, too. Mine ended up turning out fairly decent, but there was a good bit of trial and error involved – wish I’d seen your post beforehand! Great step by step instructions, thanks for sharing!