Homemade Coconut Milk

So I actually made this quite a few weeks ago, but it's been slow going trying to sit down and write about it because I have discovered that I am MUCH happier when I stay off of the computer. At first, I thought the key was just staying off of Facebook (which of course I can't seem to give up completely, but for the most part I really try to not get on much anymore), but I quickly discovered that eliminating computer activity altogether improves my outlook on life tremendously. Go figure. Anyway, I have a few minutes to kill, so here we are.

Let me preface this post by explaining why I even wanted to make coconut milk in the first place:

My baby went on a nursing strike just after turning 9 months old. One day she just decided that she had had enough, and basically that was that. I offered several more times during the next week or so, but she was having none of it. She takes breastmilk just fine from a bottle, but in all honesty, I didn't want to have to keep  pumping if she wasn't going to keep nursing. I am ready to lose the rest of this weight!

I've been storing excess breastmilk in the freezer since K was about two months old, but there's no way that my freezer supply was going to last me until her first birthday if it's all she was able to rely on. I needed something that I could incorporate into her breastmilk so that I could make it last as long as possible. I actually ended up pumping for an additional month anyway so that I could slowly decrease the frequency and duration of each session in order to avoid painful engorgement, but that only added measly extra ounces to my stash.

This is what it looked like in February.  Don't be fooled by the Texas Toast, it's actually full of breastmilk.
My entire freezer was completely stocked by the time K quit nursing in May. 

Don't mind the polka dot washcloth hanging from my shelf. Haha! Poor Baby K was teething and I was using the frozen rag to help soothe her gums.

Anyway...

Lauric acid is the main fatty acid in both coconut milk and breastmilk, so coconut milk is what I decided to go with. The problem is that store bought coconut milk is not only expensive, but it contains a pretty hefty list of nasty ingredients, including synthetic vitamins and carrageenan.

Obviously this is a chocolate flavored label, but you get the idea.
No thank you.

And so the hunt began for ways that I could make it myself. I found that you can either make it from dried coconut flakes, or from an actual whole coconut. I chose the latter route.

**I have only done this 3 different times, and only the first coconut yielded desirable results. It is extremely difficult to find a coconut that isn't on it's way to going bad since their shelf life is so short, and it's even harder to distinguish the good from the bad. They say if you can hear the water sloshing around inside and it feels heavy for it's size, then it's a good sign. Another way to check is to make sure the "eyes" on the coconut aren't soft or molding or unusually dark. If the eyes are molding, so are the insides. Unfortunately, I still wound up with coconuts that were rotten despite passing both "tests". So choose your coconuts with caution.

First thing you want to do is take your coconut and bust it open. I took mine outside and smashed it with a hammer. You can also use a rolling pin if you feel better about that. It's easier if you break it along one of the seams in the shell. Make sure you have a bowl with you so you can collect the coconut water that comes out.

If nothing comes out and the shell breaks cleanly away from the meat, it is a bad coconut.
Also, beware of milky-looking water. That generally isn't a good sign.

Nasty. It smelled like cheap wine and the meat was slimy and soft.

It is highly unlikely that the coconut will break open on the first blow. You will probably have to drain the water from one of the cracks, and then continue to wail on it until it breaks either in half, or into several pieces. It will be easier to scrape out the meat if the pieces are smaller, so I would suggest wrapping the large chunks in a hand towel or dish cloth and then continue smashing them until they are smaller. The cloth will prevent your coconut pieces from becoming dirty as well as keep them from flying all over the backyard. I would recommend using a hand towel that you don't care about, though. I made the mistake of using one that I liked and the sharp edges of the coconut pieces punctured the fabric.

Now comes the difficult part... I really haven't found a simple way of separating the meat from the shell. All of the tutorials that I came across made it sound like this step was a breeze, but I am going to tell you right now that it's not. Supposedly you can use a paring knife and just kind of slice the flesh right off, but it gave me quite a bit of trouble. Plus, you're then left with some extra skin that they make sound similar to that of a potato that you can just remove with a vegetable peeler. Ha! I struggled. Severely. So I'm just going to say do your best and find what works for you.

I ended up running a steak knife along the edges to loosen it up before chopping it off with a butcher knife. I also used said butcher knife on the alleged "skin" that was left over, because mine was less of a skin and more of a second shell. I'm not sure how else to describe it and I was too frustrated to take pictures. I will include a link of the best tutorial that I found at the end of my post. She used pictures every step of the way, and did a fantastic job of keeping the whole process simple and easy to follow.

Anyway, the point is that you want to remove the meat from the shell while salvaging as much of it as you possibly can. Once your coconut is shell-less, chop the flesh up into equal sized pieces and throw it into a VitaMix blender with the coconut water that you saved and an additional 2 cups of regular water. I used distilled water because I have tap water phobias, and I boiled it first to help maximize the amount of fat that would get drawn out of the meat.

Blend the bejeebus out of it for 3-5 minutes, and then pour that foamy goodness into a bowl lined with cheesecloth. I used flour sack cloth that I found at Walmart for less than two bucks.

Make sure you squeeze all of the excess liquid out of the cloth.
You don't want to waste any if you can help it.

Voilá! I poured what was in the bowl into an old glass water bottle so that I could easily add a few ounces to the bottles of breastmilk without making a mess. I wouldn't suggest replacing breastmilk with coconut milk, but I like that I can use it to stretch my existing supply.

This was unbelievably delicious and I even drank some of it. I've heard that some people like to add vanilla extract, but I imagine that's just a flavor preference. This doesn't need any sweetener and I liked the original flavor. It is only good for about 3 days in the refrigerator, and separation is to be expected. Just shake the bottle for a few seconds and it will combine without a problem.

Another perk of doing this homemade is that you can save the pulp (whatever is left in the cheesecloth after you squeeze all the milk out) and make your own coconut flour. I'm not really into it, but I know a lot of people that are. Simply spread your pulp evenly over a cookie sheet and pop it into the oven at the lowest temperature for about 30 minutes. Check on it regularly to make sure you aren't baking your flour; you only want to dry it. Once it's dry, throw it into a blender, food processor or coffee grinder until you have the consistency of fine flour. Ta-da! It doesn't make very much, but I hear that a little bit goes a long way with coconut flour. Another plus? You don't have to fork over an arm and a leg for store bought coconut flour. Excellent.

Of all the tutorials that I found during my search, THIS one was my favorite. Feel free to look into it if you want a more detailed version of how to make homemade coconut milk.

Although this was a great way for me to help make my breastmilk go further, I ended up putting K on raw milk shortly after she turned 10 months old. The main concern with giving infants cow's milk before they turn one is the risk of allergies, but most people that are lactose intolerant can drink raw milk without a problem. It's typically not the milk that people are allergic to, it's the chemicals used in the pasteurization and homogenization process. Ridiculous.