Extracting Coconut Milk from Fresh Coconuts

[Pumpkin Lover]

I was just reading a thread in the India forum which was centered around Konkani cuisine. One of the recipes in the thread talks about extracting coconut milk from an actual coconut (not a can). The recipe refers to the "thick" milk and "thin" milk from the coconut. This reminds me of my mother's school cookbook from Malaysia, where the "thick" and "thin" milks were referred to as the "1st santan" and "2nd santan."

How does this work? How does one get a "thick" milk and a "thin" milk from the coconut? I can't visualize it for the life of me!

[bloviatrix]

My gut tells me that the thick milk is the coconut cream. If you don't shake up your coconut milk, it separates with the "cream" rising to the top. You can skim that off and use it on its own.

[scott123]

First pressing, second pressing. The first time you squeeze the milk from the grated coconut will yield a much thicker, richer cream than ensuing extractions.

[carp]

Coconut water is the liquid inside the coconut. Coconut flesh is used for making coconut milk.

[Tepee]

We're lucky that we can easily get grated coconut here. To get coconut milk, put the grated coconut into a muslin bag. You'll get the thick milk from the first squeeze. Don't throw away the squeezed grated coconut. Soak this in a cup or 2 of water. Then repeat the muslin bag process to get the thin milk. HTH!

[bague25]

Scott123 and TP (M'sia) have given you the correct responses. For certain purposes the coconut is not grated but ground and the juice squeezed out of this paste is the thickest one...this is not coconut cream though

[helenjp]

I don't know what is used in Malaysia, but Polynesian people in New Zealand use a sort of serrated reamer to gouge the flesh out of the opened nut before squeezing out the "milk" or "cream".

I think I'd start looking for a canned coconut cream or milk, myself...

[origamicrane]

http://www.auxilloubeachsuites.com/CoconutMilk.html

nice concise explaination of coconut water/milk/cream

[Episure]

Cut the coconut into small pieces and whirr in a liquidizer/mixer with very hot water. Let it cool and squeeze in a sieve to extract thick milk. Repeat the same process again to get thin milk.

The coconut cream will rise to the top of thick milk after a while.

Take your pick... or all three.

Using hot water yields more milk.

If a recipe calls for lemon grass, I extract the flavour with the milk. Saves me a lot of effort.

Canned milk is not a patch on freshly extracted milk.

[Pumpkin Lover]

Thank you all for clearing up my confusion! This is great.

One more question: this quote comes from the site that origamicrane posted--

Coconut milk should be distinguished from coconut cream. Fresh coconut milk, when refrigerated, and canned coconut milk, if not shaken, separates into two layers, with the thick (upper) layer being the coconut cream and the thinner (bottom) layer constituting the milk. The top layer can be skimmed off with a spoon and used for recipes requiring coconut cream (usually desserts) with the bottom layer being reserved for recipes specifying coconut milk.

So if a recipe calls for coconut milk, and I make it from fresh coconuts, should I let the milk sit for a while and skim off the cream? Or, is it common to use the squeezed milk right away, without letting it sit and separate?

[origamicrane]

I think that would be down to the recipe and/or your personal preference.

what recipe are you making?

[Pumpkin Lover]

Well, there's a rendang recipe in that Malaysian cookbook which I'd like to try, and I'm in the beginning stages of deciding if I want to try my hand at an authentic Tom Kha Gai. I'm not sure if I have the instruments needed to open a coconut (like, a hammer), but all of this was more for my own curiosity.

I should check out the Southeast Asian forums to see if anyone has posted Tom Kha Gai recipes over there...

Edit to say: I don't actually remember if the rendang recipe requires coconut milk. But, tons of recipes in that cookbook, obviously, require santan, so when I'm ready to start cooking from that book, I'll know what I'm doing!

Edited July 5, 2004 by Pumpkin Lover (log)

[origamicrane]

well this is me just generalising

but i think if you are making soup then you won't need to seperate the milk and cream.

If you making curry you might want to as you usually fry the curry paste in the coconut cream before adding the rest of the milk.

As for desserts i would imagine you would want to use just the cream.

;) good luck