Have you ever wondered how to make coconut milk? You have to make it yourself; the liquid that comes out of a coconut is not actually milk, but watery juice. A popular misconception.
What you do:
In 10 easy, but time-consuming steps, you can make your own coconut milk!
Pierce the three black eyes at the top of the coconut with a corkscrew, drill or large nail.
Drain the watery juice out of the eyes; remember-this is not the coconut milk.
Tap around the middle of the coconut with a sharp instrument to crack it open. (The non-chopping edge of a cleaver works well)
Remove the white meat from inside the two halves of the coconut.
Taste a piece of the meat. You don't want to make bad-tasting milk from poor flavoured meat.
Chop up any large pieces of meat.
Place half of the coconut meat in a blender with about 1 ½ cups of hot water. You can adjust the amount of water to your taste, if you prefer a thinner milk, use more, for thicker, use less water.
Process for thirty seconds.
Place a few layers of cheesecloth over a bowl and strain the milk through the cloth. Squeeze the cloth to get all the milk out.
Repeat the process with the other half of the coconut meat.
That's it! Now you know how to make coconut milk!
Tips:
Coconut milk must be refrigerated and used within two days. With no preservatives, it doesn't last long.
You can freeze coconut milk. Freeze in ice cube trays, then pop frozen cubes into plastic freezer bags for convenient use. One cube is about one ounce.
When cooking with coconut milk it is important that you do not cover the pan, as this can cause it to curdle.
Despite what the label says on some coconuts, you must always process the meat in order to produce milk.
