Did you know you can make coconut milk from unsweetened coconut flakes? If you want to avoid the BPA in cans, you can make your own coconut milk at home.
Bisphenol A (BPA) is an industrial chemical that is in many hard plastic bottles and metal-based food and beverage cans since the 1960s.
Both the National Toxicology Program at the National Institutes of Health and FDA have some concern about the potential effects of BPA on the brain, behavior, and prostate gland in fetuses, infants, and young children. (Source)
Canned coconut milk also usually has additives including thickeners (such as cornstarch), stabilizers and emulsifiers. Carrageenan, guar gum and carboxy methyl cellulose are common additives.
If you are on the GAPS Diet, you need to avoid all additives in coconut milk. It is best to make your own at home. You'll be surprised at how easy it is!
Recipe Notes
You can save the pulp from making the coconut milk and make your own coconut flour. This is a great way to save money.
How to Find Unsweetened Coconut Flakes
See my resources page for where to buy coconut flakes.
How to Make Coconut Milk
Difficulty: Easy
Makes: Over a quart of coconut milk
Ingredients
Coconut flakes, dried, unsweetened (16 oz or 10 cups) — where to buy coconut flakes
Filtered Water (10 cups) — where to buy water filters
Equipment
Blender
Cheese Cloth , nut milk bag, or fine-mesh strainer
Directions
1. Add the coconut flakes and the water to a large saucepan or stockpot.
2. Bring to a boil.
3. Remove from heat and let cool. Transfer to a large bowl and set it in a sinkful of cool water with ice cubes if you want it to cool faster.
4. Pour the mixture into a blender and blend until smooth.
5. Strain the mixture through several layers of cheesecloth, a nut milk bag, or a fine mesh sieve. Press out as much liquid as possible.
6. The resulting liquid is coconut milk and can be used for drinking or used in recipes. Store in the refrigerator or freeze. (I freeze mine in ice cube trays. Each ice cube tray is 1 ounce — this makes for easy measuring.)
Want More Recipes Like This?
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Photo Credit: gomer333, on Flickr
Annmarie
Is this the same as shredded unsweetened coconut? Thanks!
Yes that will work
Will I have a lot of fat/cream too with this recipe ?
It makes full-fat coconut milk, just as Mother Nature intended.
Thank you so much for this and all the other recipes, hints and advice! I have a strainer attachment to my food processor that might do the job. How do you handle the leftover coconut “pulp”? Do you dehydrate it or immediately try to use it in a recipe? Could this be mixed in with the soaked granola at some point? Any suggestions?
I’ll explain how I do it in the next post about how to make coconut flour.
Have you found an ice cube tray that isn’t plastic? I hate using the plastic ones as I can actually taste the plastic in my ice cubes. Ugh!!!
Yes, Radiant Life sells stainless steel ice cube trays.
http://villagegreennetwork.com/marketplace/kitchen-tools-appliances?pid=1 target=”_blank”
Click on their listing and go to their website — then type in ice cube on their search bar at the top right.
Re: Ice cube trays–I like using the silicone ice trays. Tovolo makes oversize ice cubes. Easy to pop out. Some of the other shapes (like mini-loaf and muffin silicone pans) are nice for freezing broth.
Help! What are your suggestions to heal tonsillitis in a 7yr old? She is already taking vit.d arond 4000 I.U., probiotics, elderberry syrup and goldenseal. She has taken collidal silver for 3 days and her tonsils are still really swollen. They had white patches on them but know they are gone.
Thanks!!
I really think it’s best to avoid colloidal silver. I heard Andrew Cutler speak about it at a WAPF conference and he said it’s toxic and should not be ingested.
I’m not a doctor so I can’t really advise you. You should take her to see a doctor.
What worked for me with bronchiits (a viral infection) was 16,000 IU of vitamin D per day in the form of fermented cod liver oil. To translate this to a child it would be 8,000 IU.
http://cheeseslave.com/real-food-cures-vitamin-d-for-bronchitis-and-iodine-for-moles/
This recipe is so easy and obvious (now that I have read it). Thanks for posting!!! Coconut milk is the last thing I buy in cans because of BPA. I try to get thai fresh young coconuts but even most of those are soaked in chemicals to keep them preserved.
Im pretty sure Muir Glen uses BPA free cans
Awesome! Thank you! I bought a bunch of shredded coconut a few days ago in anticipation of this recipe. :-) I want to give it a try in your GAPS egg nog recipe. Can’t wait to try it!
Is this coconut milk thick enough to make a nice creamy ice cream?
Yes!
This does look so easy, I will have to try it! Thanks for the help. I appreciate cost-saving tips like this!
Love making my own coconut milk and it’s so easy. Thanks for spreading the word on BPA – so important to try to keep it and the other additives out of your diet! I need to make a big batch like this and freeze it – great idea – I’ll have to do that next time so I have some ready & waiting!
I want to make my own, but I read that Native Forest uses BPA free cans – any confirmation?
Yes, I’ve read that Native Forest cans are BPA-free
Ann Marie – can you get the flakes @ Whole Foods?
@Christina Yes I think so
Just make sure they are unsweetened
Oh coconuts! I love your tutorials, but was hoping it would start back with the whole coconut. I live in Hawaii where coconuts abound, but I haven’t yet quite figured out how to get the coconut meat out of the shell easily! :-)
Sounds like I need to write another coconut tutorial!
I just made my first batch of coconut milk. I made a mess in the kitchen but am so happy with my 9.5 cups of coconut milk. Next is the flout. Thanks so much for sharing. This is awesome!
I just made my first batch of coconut milk. I made a mess in the kitchen but am so happy with my 9.5 cups of coconut milk. Next is the flour. Thanks so much for sharing. This is awesome!
You know, I thought I just didn’t like coconut milk (I give it to the kids) but I made this recipe today, and OH MY it is DELISH! I’m going to have to start drinking it myself. Note: I made it using the shredded coconut and I think the proportions need to be adjusted. I needed a LOT more water to make it soupy. Will make again! Thanks for steering me away from the containers, that stuff was not yummy (or nearly as healthy).
I looked on the net for things I could do with coconut pulp–found this and have made several times–kids and adults love them. My comments are in brackets.
COCONUT MACAROONS
“This recipe is the closest I’ve come to English coconut macaroons — truly delicious and so quick to make! Get your Dehydrator out…
Adapted from the recipe Macaroon Chews in “Hooked On Raw” by Rhio (rawfoodinfo.com):
2 cups coconut pulp — run fresh coconut through the Samson Juicer with mincing screen [I use pulp left over from making coconut milk from dried organic coconut]
10 large pitted dates [dried apricots work too]
1-1/2 to 2 cups of filtered water [depends on dryness of coconut pulp 1-1/2 seems to work with slightly damp coconut pulp]
sprinkle of vanilla powder, or vanilla exctract
Blend all ingredients in food processor, spoon onto teflex sheets as round cookies, flatten to 1/4-inch thickness [I use small cookie scoop and flatten with a small piece of parchment–(makes it easy and no sticking to glass) flat bottomed glass]
Dehydrate at 100F for til crispy [temps up to 145 are or 150 work fine–could even do on warm setting in oven–on parchment and cookie sheet]. Coconut dries quickly–overnight or longer at lower temp.
Wheat-free macaroons, what more could the doctor order?” [And they stay nice and crispy stored in tightly covered jar]
VARIATION ~ For ginger snaps add ¾ t. ground ginger, ½ t. cinnamon, 1/8 nutmeg and 1/8 t. cloves
Hi, there! I’m a bit confused by the quantities. Perhaps you could clarify. 16 ounces of dried coconut flakes doesn’t translate to 10 cups, either by weight or volume. Should it maybe be 2 cups? Also, with 10 cups of water, I would expect it to make more than a quart at the end. Thanks!
I made this recipe today because I needed coconut milk for a recipe. I’d like to note that it yields over 2 quarts! The recipe states “over a quart” which I found discouraging, not too much yield for the work. But yay! I have over two quarts to stock up the freezer now!
I started making homemade coconut milk to free myself of preservatives, plus none of my canned coconut milks were solidifying anymore.
I love homemade coconut milk, and I make coconut flour from the remaining fibers. Plus I flavor the milk with vanilla, almond, chocolate, etc… So many good things from this recipe!
But it still will not separate or solidify for me to make whip cream.
Any suggestions?
Thanks