Not to be confused with coconut water or banana milk shake oil. For the dehydrated ground coconut pulp product, see creamed coconut. Coconut milk is an opaque, milky-white liquid extracted from the grated pulp of mature coconuts. Coconut milk is differentiated into subtypes based on fat content.
These products are not the same as regular coconut milk products which are meant for cooking, not drinking. Percentages are roughly approximated using US recommendations for adults. Coconut milk is a relatively stable oil-in-water emulsion with proteins that act as emulsifiers and thickening agents. It is opaque and milky white in color and ranges in consistency from watery to creamy.
Coconut milk can also sometimes be confused with coconut water. Coconut water is the clear fluid found within the coconut seed, while coconut milk is the extracted liquid derived from the manual or mechanical crushing of white inner flesh of mature coconuts. Coconut milk is traditionally made by grating the white inner flesh of mature coconuts and mixing the shredded coconut pulp with a small amount of hot water in order to suspend the fat present in the grated pulp. The grating process can be carried out manually or by machine.
Gravity separation can also be used to derive a top layer of coconut cream and a bottom layer of coconut skim milk. This is achieved by simply allowing the extracted liquid to stand for an hour. Traditionally prepared coconut milk is utilized immediately after being freshly extracted because it spoils easily when exposed to air. Rancid coconut milk gives off a strong unpleasant smell and has a distinctive soapy taste. Coconut cream contains a higher amount of soluble, suspended solids, which makes it a good ingredient for desserts, and rich and dry sauces.
Because thin milk contains a lesser amount of these soluble solids, it is mainly used in general cooking. Coconut milk is also an intermediate step in the traditional wet process methods of producing virgin coconut oil by gradual heating, churning, or fermentation. These methods, however, are less efficient than coconut oil production from copra. A person sits on the bench and repeatedly scrapes the inner surface of halved coconut shells with both hands over the metal disk. The scrapings are gathered by a container placed below.
More modern mechanical coconut graters dating back to the mid-1800s consist of serrated blades with a hand crank. This version is believed to be a British invention. Commercially processed coconut milk products use largely the same processes to extract coconut milk from pulp, though they use more mechanical equipment like deshelling machines, grinders and pulverizers, motorized coconut shredders, and coconut milk extractors. They differ significantly in the bottling or canning process, however.
Processed coconut milk are first filtered through a 100 mesh filters. Manufacturers of canned coconut milk typically combine diluted and comminuted milk with the addition of water as a filler. Due to factors like pasteurization and minimal contact with oxygen, processed coconut milk generally has a longer shelf life than traditionally prepared coconut milk. It is also more efficient than traditional methods at extracting the maximum amount of coconut milk from grated coconut.