How to make coconut milk

Posted on by Lesh

 

coconut-milk-I started making coconut milk using desiccated coconut earlier this year. Mainly to reduce tinned foods because of the BPA.

  • 2 cups pure desiccated coconut (make sure it has not additives or other ingredients)
  • 4 cups of freshly boiled filtered water
  • a good blender.

Pour the desiccated coconut and hot water into your blender (if your blender has a plastic jug do this step in a stainless steel or glass bowl).

Let it sit for at least 2 hours, allowing the coconut to soften and the water to cool.

Then whizz in blender on high speed for 30–60 seconds (Thermomix: speed 9 for 30 seconds).

Strain milk into a wide mouth jug, using a nut milk bag or a few layers of muslin cloth. (Do not throw out the pulp. See below.)

Use the milk in curries, smoothies, porridges, soups – or make yoghurt!

The milk should keep for 3–4 days in the fridge. I tend to freeze it in portions to use in my curries.

A note about homemade coconut milk: because there are no emulsifiers or thickening agents ­– such as gums, carrageenan – homemade coconut milk is generally thinner than your canned variety and will separate on standing (the coconut milk fat will float on top). Just give it a good shake before you use.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Published by Lesh

Lesh Karan was born in Fiji, has Indian genes and lives in Melbourne. She writes creative non-fiction and poetry. Her work has been published in the Australian Multilingual Writing Project and Cordite Poetry Review.

38 thoughts on “How to make coconut milk”

  1. Your so clever Lesh
    How wonderful are coconuts!
    I’m still enjoying my coconut butter from the other week.
    Cant wait to give this a go.. Plus coconut yogurt – Yum!

    1. Ha! Thanks Tegan, you’re too kind! 🙂 Yes, as a tropical gal from Fiji, I never appreciated them when I had coconuts in abundance. Now, when I experiment with the dry, desiccated stuff, I wish i could just pop over to Fiji and get me some fresh ones! I miss eating the flesh of young coconuts straight form the coconut. One of the most cherished memories I have of growing up in fiji.

  3. hi, am so amazed at how much one can do wth coconuts as i love coconuts. i hv a few questions wth regards to coconut yogurt….can i jst get probiotics frm d pharmacy n add into d milk? instead of maple syrup can i use organic honey if yes will d measurement be d same? i’ll be using a normal blender is tht ok n lastly, instead of buying d dessicated coconut i’m planning on buying d scraped coconut n then dry roast it in a pan sme to mke coconut flour n some for d yogurt.
    i saw yr recipe on mking coconut flour……must i tke out milk first in order to mke d flour? hope u cld shed sme light to sme of my concerns lsted

    1. Hi Nevi,you could buy some coconut milk to make it? Or you could make milk out of the fresh coconut – no reason to dry it. You’ll get better milk out of the fresh coconut any way – just grate and soak in warm water for a couple of hours (no need to blend) then strain through a muslin cloth.
      yes, you can use hone and just make sure the probiotics are of good quality. Good luck!

  4. jst to continue wht i accidently sent wthout finishing wht i wanted to say was..i’ve decided to go paleo as am intolerent to dairy n wheat stuff not to forget my goal of wanting to lose weight as well.

  5. Just read your post. I am so excited that you have included Thermomix instructions. Can’t wait to give it a go.

    1. Sorry to hear about the bread, Karen. Coconut flour is pretty tricky to work with since it’s not a really a flour. It sucks up a lot of moisture and has a different texture, so it takes a bit of getting used to – both baking with it and its taste. I usually only ever used it in small amounts mixed in with other flours. Keep experimenting and good luck!

  7. Great post. Quick question:

    Do I have to make the coconut milk with the desiccated Coconut? Could I just whiz it into Coconut flour directly?

    Would it also work with fresh scraped Coconut?

    1. Hi Katan, it’s best to make coconut milk from fresh grated/scrapped coconut (a mature brown one, not a fresh green one). I don’t have access to organic ones that easily so I sued desiccated coconut. I don’t think coconut flour would work as the oil has been squeezed out of it. Cheers, Lesh

  8. I made the milk, mainly for the cocnut flour as I can’t be bothered hunting it down (although the milk turned out so good even though I’m not that big on coconut) the flour won’t grind down to a floury consistency even in my coffee grinder which I mill heaps of flours. Do you know why this is and if the flour will still work the same in recipes which call for coconut flour? Thanks

    1. Hi Mariam, I found that the desiccated coconut needs to be really dry before you grinding it, and even then it doesn’t quite grind to a fine flour. But I used it anyway, and it was fine. So it should still work for you 🙂

  9. Thanks for this – I made my own coconut milk and it was perfect and creamy!
    Are you able to share the recipe for those amazing looking muffins at the end of this post?

    1. Hi Jules, I’m sorry — I just made them up and didn’t jot down the recipe. From memory, they were good, but not up to my standard 😉 I’m not really a fan of using coconut flour much in baking as it’s very drying. What did you use your coocnut flour in?

      1. With the left over coconut flour, I made your Vegan Power Balls and your Buckwheat Pancakes – both delicious 🙂

  19. Thank you so much for these recipes! I referenced them (and provided a link) in my Live Below the Line profile. Thank you so much again. 🙂

  20. Love making your coconut milk and flour. How long does the coconut flour last for in the pantry in an air tight container? Thanks

  21. I love making the coconut milk Lesh. It was simple and tasted great using good quality organic coconut chips to start with. I used the left over pulp to make gluten free anzac cookes and they came out great! Thanks Lesh 🙂

  22. Best way to use coconut flour in baking cakes and breads is to replace 10% of total flour volume with coconut flour and add some extra liquid few tablespoon at a time. Best to practice with recipes you already know the consistency of so you can judge how much extra liquid to add, err on slightly wetter mix. Works well in bread too especially gluten free to give better texture. Spent a year doing gluten dairy and additive free for kids and making up my own cakes scones bread and pizza recipes and found the 10%rule to be the best.

  24. Hi I live in Cairns where we can get hold of fresh coconut meat. Do you know a thermomix version of making coconut cream/milk using fresh coconut?
    Thanks

  25. Hi Lesh, I’m on a paleo diet, but more so an endometriosis diet. I just moved to Uganda and discovered a hole in the wall spice shop that sells desiccated coconuts, which I’ve never heard of until today! Anyway, I came across your blog while googling it. I’d like to buy some to use as flour since I’m limited in what types of flour I can have. I’m not sure how clean this store is, so I’m wondering if you have any ideas on how to “clean” the desiccated coconuts before turning it into milk and flour? Any input would be nice, but I’ll also be googling again. Thanks! =)

    1. Hi Joy, Im not sure what you mean by clean? Desiccated coconut is dry grated coconut and it should already be clean. I use recently boiled water to make coconut milk so this should kill off any bugs if that’s what you’re worried about, and drying it in the oven to make flour should also do the same thing because of the heat. All the best, Lesh

  26. I was wondering just how long the coconut flour can be stored before it starts to turn rancid, and could I make the milk a little thicker with something like Xantham gum?

    Thanks for your help!
    Leebo.

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