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| Homemade Coconut Milk |
You don’t have to have a coconut tree growing in your backyard to make homemade coconut milk.
A few weeks ago I was lucky enough to win a Tropical Traditions Coconut Chip giveaway on the Cake Moms blog.
I won a one gallon tub of coconut chips. I plan on using the coconut chips in some of my baked goods. But I also have a huge bounty of fresh mangos I need to use up. The coconut chips and milk will come in handy.
I’m sick of slicing and freezing mangos at this point as this is the second batch of fresh mangos I have aquired this summer. But I am sure I will appreciate all the hard and sticky work during the winter months when I am longing for a little heat and sunshine. Now I will be able to sit back and enjoy a mango smoothie or ice pop and dream about the heat of summer when the temperatures are in the 40′s.
I am also planning on making a batch of mango ice cream soon and thought that some coconut milk added to the recipe in place of regular milk might just add a nice flavor layer. Since I like to try to work with what I have on hand I decided to try my hand at making the homemade coconut milk.
Tropical Traditions has a very nice video online showing exactly how to make coconut milk from their shredded coconut. You can check that out here.
A note: I am sure purchased coconut milk is a bit more concentrated and it is also sweetened but still I’m sure it would work well in my ice cream.
I’ll have to pay attention to the texture and feel of the mango ice cream once I make it since the coconut milk is made from water and it will affect the way the ice crystals form when it’s freezing. I love a good kitchen experiment so if all turns out well you can look forward to that recipe coming up also.
What you will need
You’ll need 2 cups of coconut chips or shreded coconut. The coconut chips from tropical traditions are unsweetened as I mentioned. If what you have on hand is sweetened you can use it also but remember it will be sweeter and you may have to adjust the amount of sweetener you use in your recipe.
This method makes almost a quart of coconut milk
2 cups dried coconut chips or shredded
4 cups hot water
a blender
I put the water in a pot and brought it to almost boiling. Just when bubbles start to form on the bottom of the pot. The hot water helps reconstitute the dried coconut.
Put one cup of coconut chips in the blender and pour in half the water. Let this mixture sit for about a minute so the coconut can soften up. Be careful. Escpesially when you turn your blender on. The steam from the hot water will make your lid pop off if your not careful so make sure you are holding the lid down when you first hit the power button.
I don’t think it matters much which setting you use but my blender has a grate setting and that is what I used. Turn the blender on, holding the lid down until it gets going. Let it run for about 2 to 3 minutes.
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| Straining Homemade Coconut Milk |
Pour the coconut milk through cheesecloth or a very fine mesh strainer. I picked up a nestling set of plastic strainers from Wally World a few weeks ago for $2 and it worked great.
Put the coconut back in the blender and add the other cup of dried coconut. Pour in the rest of the water. Let it sit for a minute or two and repeat the previous steps.
Straining the second batch the same way and pour all of the milk into a jar, cover and store in the refrigerator.
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| Storing Homemade Coconut in a mason jar |
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| Left over shredded coconut |
This is the coconut that is left over. You can use this coconut in another recipe. I made a batch of mounds like candy with the left over coconut. You can use it in muffins, cookies or any other recipe that might call for shredded coconut.
I Love coconut! Very impressed howyou used it all.
fantastic!! i so plan to try this!! thanks!
Thanks Debbie & Tami! It's a great way to make homemade and save some money in the kitchen.
Wow, that's such a great idea. Coconut is one of my favorite things on Earth and coconut milk is just heavenly.