Homemade coconut milk

Out of all the dairy-free milks I love coconut milk the best. It’s the creamiest, most delicious milk, full of good saturated fats, lauric acid and MCTs. It’s super easy to make at home too. A lot of shop bought coconut milks either come in a can (which are lined with BPA – a hormone disruptor best avoided), or come in cartons with added junk like carageenan (a gut irritant) or sucrose esters. I find carton stuff way too watery too, because usually it’s water mixed with some coconut milk and added gums to stop it separating.

The homemade stuff tastes so much better and you can adjust the creaminess. Add more water for a watery version, or put it in the fridge overnight to get the thick creamy stuff like from a can that you can whip!

STEP ONE
Get some fresh coconuts. You can also use this method with dry coconut, but I like fresh.

 

STEP TWO
Crack those nuts! I use the sophisticated method of going outside and slamming the coconuts into the ground, aiming for the line down the middle (weak bit), and then gather up the pieces later.

 

STEP THREE
Fish out the coconut meat. I use a solid knife to carefully pry the coconut meat off the hard shell. You can scrape off the outer brown later but I don’t bother – my coconut milk still comes out white

 

STEP FOUR
Get your chunks into the strongest/highest powered blender you have ; I’m lucky to have a Vitamix which was a worthwhile investment, but actually most blenders will do fine. Blend until you get a paste, I usually blend on high a few minutes.

 

STEP FIVE
Strain the coconut milk into a nut milk bag, I bought this one on Amazon, which is nice and big and eco-friendly too. Squeeze the bag to get all that creamy coco-goodness out. Twist it up and wring it, putting those hand muscles to use. You’ll end up with two bowls like this. .

 

STEP SIX
Marvel at the beautiful milk you have just created. You will have dry pulp leftover that you can throw away or search the web for interesting ways to use up.

STEP SEVEN
If you’re anything like me, you will have to clean up all the random bits of coconut meat that have ended up in all sorts of random places in the kitchen.

 

This is what it looks like after being in the fridge a few hours ; super thick creamy goodness on top!

I find homemade coconut milk doesn’t last as long (probably a few days in the fridge), so use it up quickly or try freezing it.