The Coconut Milk Solution

Coconut milk is a constant problem, but I use it every single day for my protein shakes. I'm living in a place where I cannot buy fresh coconuts, so making my own coconut milk is out of the question. For a while I was buying SO's Unsweetened coconut milk. It was really easy to use, had no sugar or carrageenan, and was inexpensive enough. The problems outweighed the good, though. It is so watered down that there's hardly any nutrition left, there were just enough additives and stabilizers to question how healthy it really was, and I was throwing away the non-recyclable packaging. So I turned to buying canned coconut milk, which is much more expensive. It was organic full fat coconut milk, though, so I thought it was worth it. I loved how thick it made my protein shakes, and how it kept me full longer, but... there's a lot of inconsistencies with canned coconut milk.

I've bought two brands: Native Forest and Natural Value. (If you're looking at the prices, be aware that the prices fluxuate within $10 fairly often. I pay attention and buy when it's cheap, and it can end up being 50 cents per can cheaper than in stores when buying this way. That's several dollars in savings.) Both brands have their goods and bads. Native Forest uses guar gum to keep the milk thick and stable, and that's not necessarily a good thing because the gum can irritate the gut. Their packaging is lined with BPA-free paper so the aluminum might be less of an issue. Natural Value does not use guar gum and it's the most pure I've found, but each can is a different consistency and it tends to form and inedible thick gross layer on the top of the milk.

The problem with both brands is that I never know if the milk will be usable right out of the can or not. Both brands have presented a problem with occasionally having great ready-to-drink milk that pours well, and other times the milk is a solid clump. This is very annoying.

But I have a solution!

What you need is:
- A good blender
- A can or two of coconut milk
- Filtered water (I have an RO filter on my sink)
- Mason jars or a tall pitcher that seals

I have a Ninja blender that works really well for this task.

1. Pour half the can of coconut milk into the blender.
2. Fill the blender about half way with filtered water
3. Blend for a minute, past the milk looking like it's ready. You want to get all the clumps out.
4. Pour it in to mason jars
5. Enjoy!





This method reduces the cost of the coconut milk, works out all the clumps to make it smooth, and thinks out the milk enough to where it's easier to shake a protein shake. It doesn't taste any different, just has a thinner texture. It tastes and feels thicker than SO's coconut milk, so that just shows how watered down their milk actually is.

I typically get one can of coconut milk to fill two mason jars. I could easily think it out more than that and still have good quality milk, but I choose not to because I do want enough of the fat from the coconut milk in each protein shake.