Coconut Milk – Homemade Delicious from Pantry Ingredient

Coconut milk is delicious when you make it yourself. You can buy it at the store but sometimes you don’t want a whole carton or you don’t have it on hand. And you can make coconut milk from your dry pantry ingredients. See below.

First off, coconut milks can be confusing. And then there’s coconut water. So I’ll break down the main difference below that’ll help you in making coconut milk.

At the grocery store, you find coconut milk in the milk refrigerated section usually on the perimeter inside the store.

And you can also find coconut milk in the canned aisles or international sections, usually for cooking, soups, or baking needs.

Then there’s coconut water, that’s usually found in cartons in the beverage aisles.

The first two kinds of coconut milk are from mature coconuts. It’s from the white flesh parts that you probably are familiar with. 🧉

And coconut water is from young or baby coconuts. You can usually find those in international or Asian grocery stores that look like straw husk wrapped coconuts.

Coconut water is more pure tasting and goes well by itself or in a tropical mango drink.

And this recipe is all about coconut milk that you can easily find ingredients for in your weekly grocery shopping. And it comes from none of the sources above.

Because all you need is shredded or flaked coconut. I discovered this because I’m a baker.

So naturally I like looking at baking ingredients. And as someone who likes coconut flavors, making a coconut smoothie or a coconut fruit cake with coconut flour… making homemade coconut milk from pantry ingredients is right up my alley!

So I’m sharing how I do this with dry, unsweetened coconut, also known as desiccated coconut.  These are the dry coconut flesh shavings.

There’s also sweetened coconut that looks more moist in a bag. It has extra sugar and preservatives, so I recommend using the unsweetened version for the healthier reasons.

To make the coconut water: add half dry coconut shavings (or chips) and fresh water to a cup or bowl. Refrigerate overnight.

Then bring out and blend in a Magic Bullet (or blender_.

Next, pour the coconut and water through a sifter. I have one that I use for loose tea and you probably have one if you look around. You can also use a colander or cheese cloth.

As long as you can pour the water through and sift out the coconut, you can make coconut milk.

And voila! you have a delicious coconut milk with a white color and slightly opaque-sides. It’s really quite pretty like a dove or ghost color. 🕊️

And it tastes coconut pure, like a young coconut’s water.

So that’s where it’s fun because you’re getting a milk hybrid from mature coconut flesh, but the sweet pure tasting vibes of a young flesh (like in coconut water). Best of both worlds  🎉

You can then re-use the wet coconut shavings in your breakfast bowls and other uses. Maybe a coconut smoothie?