Homemade raw coconut milk blended using fresh coconut meat and coconut water. Healthy, unprocessed, and enzyme-rich recipe which includes a video tutorial.
Two of the top items I buy at my local Asian Supermarket are bags of fresh coconut meat and young coconuts, which I use to make raw coconut milk.
High-quality coconut milk is a must-have staple in the kitchen. It is a much healthier option than hormone-disrupting soy milk.
The most highly desirable nutrient in coconut fat is lauric acid. The body uses this fatty acid for energy. It is also highly anti-microbial.
In fact, this lipid is so important to human health that the mammary gland makes lauric acid for breastfeeding babies! It is also present in a quality homemade baby formula recipe, but not in commercial brands even if organic.
Most homemade coconut milk recipes utilize boiling hot water to reconstitute desiccated coconut meat. This method is fine if you plan to make a cooked dish such as coconut milk pudding.
I personally prefer to make coconut milk in a manner that maintains rawness so that all enzymes and nutrients are intact.
This is important, especially for dairy-intolerant children who may consume it frequently as a healthy milk substitute.
If you prefer even more probiotics in your coconut milk, you can use this raw coconut milk and ferment it into coconut milk kefir.
The leftover coconut meat can be used to make homemade coconut flour for baking so that nothing goes to waste.
Homemade RAW Coconut Milk Recipe
Easy, homemade raw coconut milk you can make in minutes using fresh coconut meat and coconut water. Recipe includes video tutorial.
Ingredients
- 2 cups Frozen, raw coconut meat
- 1 young coconut
- 2 cups coconut water use if a young coconut is not available
Instructions
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Thaw the frozen shredded coconut meat.
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Open the young coconut as demonstrated in the video below and drain the coconut water into a bowl.
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Place one cup of fresh coconut water and one cup of shredded coconut meat into a blender or food processor.
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Blend until smooth. Check the consistency of the mixture. If it is extremely watery, add a bit more shredded coconut and blend again until smooth.
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Pour coconut meat/coconut water mixture into a juicer to quickly strain out the coconut fiber. What is left is raw, whole coconut milk!
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Alternatively, line a large bowl with a fine mesh cheesecloth or dishtowel and pour the coconut mixture into the bowl. Gather up the ends and squeeze out the coconut milk into the bowl.
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Repeat to make one more cup of coconut milk. Making one cup of coconut milk at a time seems to work best in my experience so as not to overfill the blender and to achieve ideal consistency for the coconut milk.
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Refrigerate the fresh, raw coconut milk. It will last for one week in the refrigerator.
Recipe Video
Recipe Notes
Raw coconut water brands from the store can be substituted for the fresh coconut water as desired if fresh young coconuts are unavailable.
Oops, just saw your new post about how to make coconut flour. Great timing as I have been wondering how to do just that. You are awesome!!
What do you do with the coconut pulp from the blender? I hate to waste it.
Sarah, I’m a real newbie… and on a very limited budget. Thanks for being such an encouragement!
I’m curious how long the fresh coconut milk will keep in the fridge. Thanks, Lucy
Hi Lucy, it lasts about a week. Freeze what you will not use in that time.
Hi Sarah,
All I was able to find in my area were green coconuts, not white. The one I opened had LOTS of water in it, but no edible meat.. It only had this jelly-like coconut goo in it. I dug into the meat with a spoon, and it was very hard and not sweet at all. Is this just too immature? Should I wait on opening the others to let them ripen, or are they just different than the white ones in your video?
Thanks!!
-Lauren
You can use the water out of the green coconuts. You will need to get mature coconut meat in the frozen section as I show in the video as you will get very little if any meat in young coconuts.
I was wondering about this myself. So are young coconuts only good for their water then?
Nicola — the meat in young coconuts is edible and delicious. Don’t throw it away! It can be eaten straight out of the coconut. Just scrape it out with a spoon, and avoid getting rough bits of husk in your mouth (although no harm in it of course, you can always spit that part out). This stuff is a prized ingredient for pies, fruit salads and as a plain ol’ nutritious snack where I come from.
Can you refrigerate it to get the layer of coconut cream on top similar to the canned stuff? That’s my favorite part!
Sarah, I just recently found your website and am very interested in your videos, however I am unable to find the link for making the coconut milk video..am I missing something on this page? Can you provide it please? thanks
Hi de .. the video is there now. I’m not quite sure how the youtube video disappeared from the post but it’s back now! 🙂
LOL, I meant to say I am excited to MAKE this…..guess I had milk on the brain….
I am so excited to milk this. I actually went to the Asian market near my home (that I always just drive past) and found the frozen shredded coconut and the fresh young coconuts. I did notice that you really need to read the frozen shredded coconut though, as I found some had added sugar in them.
I am anxious to see your next post or video on how you use the coconut milk.
Question for you. You were talking about how the methods with boiling water make the milk not truly raw. What do you think about blanching almonds? They are in the boiling water for only a minute and then put in cold water. (When I blanch my own, I mean.) Does that make the almonds no longer raw? Thanks!
Not really sure about that one, Beth. I suspect at least some of the rawness is lost, but probably not all.
Hi Sarah,
I have been wondering how to do this recently, this will be fun to try.
I just put up a summary of the things I like about your site here: http://evolutionaryhealthsystems.blogspot.com/2011/02/healthy-home-economist-my-fermented.html
check it out if you get a chance.
TS
May I ask what Juicer you use? It looks like a nice one. Thanks for the video!
Hi Gabriela, its a Jack La Lanne basic model. Does a good job .. really dry pulp so it gets the most out of your investment in organic vegetables. Easy to clean too. Here’s what it looks like although mine is a bit different as it is a few years old: