Lots of coconut questions

[Gigi's Mommy]

1. Coconut milk : Is it possible to buy good quality coconut milk in a can totally without additives? The best I have found is Thai Kitchen, which is fine, but it does have guar gum.

2. Coconut cream Can you really buy this? I've checked our asian markets and not found it. Well, except in a can with sodium metabisulphite.

3. Coconut Oil : I'm planning a trek to whole foods in about 10 days. What's the best brand to buy? Is it possible to buy it without the possibility of peanut contamination? Am I really going to love using it for cooking? Can I really substitute it for butter and get good results? (we have dairy and peanut allergies here, among other things) And how about it substituting for the health benefits of butter?

Okay, thanks in advance.

[SleepyMamaBear]

1. yes look at your local HFS
2. no clue!
3. Omega Nutrition(natuals?) in the black plastic tub. virgin organic is delish!!!!

[Laurel723]

Originally Posted by Gigi's Mommy

1. Coconut milk : Is it possible to buy good quality coconut milk in a can totally without additives? The best I have found is Thai Kitchen, which is fine, but it does have guar gum.

2. Coconut cream Can you really buy this? I've checked our asian markets and not found it. Well, except in a can with sodium metabisulphite.

3. Coconut Oil : I'm planning a trek to whole foods in about 10 days. What's the best brand to buy? Is it possible to buy it without the possibility of peanut contamination? Am I really going to love using it for cooking? Can I really substitute it for butter and get good results? (we have dairy and peanut allergies here, among other things) And how about it substituting for the health benefits of butter?
Okay, thanks in advance.

Hopefully someone else will be able to answer the rest but here goes-

I buy Spectrum non-refined. I love it. I use it in place of butter for, well, virtually everything-though I have never heard about peanut contamination. Cookies brown a little more; potatoes fried in CO are FABulous. Health benefits-I doubt it. Butterfat is unique in a lot of ways - butyric acid, and I'm not sure what all else.

and, on the flip side, if you really DONT like coconut flavor you can get the refined, but I don't think it's quite as good.

Hopefully others will chime in on the remainder-

[Ruthla]

Trader Joe's brand is just coconut milk and water, but it's "second pressing" and much lower in fat content than Thai kitchen. I alternate between the two brands, depending on which store I'm in when it's time to buy more coconut milk.

Thai kitchen is much thicker than TJs, and it DOES separate in spite of the guar gum. You could possibly use the thicker layer from the top of the can in place of coconut cream in recipes, and discard the watery layer (or use it in place of water in other recipies.)

TJ's is easier to pour into coffee, as it's still liquid when refridgerated. TK in a jar in the fridge needs to be spooned out.

I generally buy some of both kinds of coconut oil- unrefined for desserts where I want a coconutty flavor, and refined for recipes where I want a more "neutral" flavor. Refined is a bit less expensive and I assume has fewer health benefits.

[velcromom]

I think Tropical Traditions has coconut cream.

Health benefits - not the same as butter but has lauric acid which is good too.

nak

[kjbrown92]

Thank you, thank you. Sort of. Guar gum? I didn't see that on the label when I got it. I bought some organic coconut milk at Whole Foods yesterday -- I had been getting Trader Joe's but it is lowfat, and I wanted to try making my yogurt with full fat coconut milk, so I got this one. My daughter can't have GUAR GUM. I would not even have looked at it again before I made the yogurt, so thank you for making me look at the label again. Now I have 6 cans of the stuff that I can't use. ARGH. And I have to go on a search again. What a pain. I can't seem to get away from additives!
Kathy

[heket]

I hadn't even see coconut milk at TJs. So I picked up some from Sprouts (like WFs.)

I just go a gallon of coconut oil from Mountain Rose. I've also tried Nutiva and Garden of Life -- both are good, though I like the Garden of Life one just a bit more. I haven't tried the Mountain Rose one yet, but other mamas seems to like it.

[tempestjewel]

In the asian stores around my area there is a brand of coconut milk called "Bangkok" coconut milk (it's a white can) that is JUST coconut milk and water. It seperates in the can, but with a little gentle heat it is easy to recombine it. It is the only brand I've found readily available locally that is also inexpensive (I pay between 89 and 99 cents a can).

[cristeen]

You can always make your own coconut milk. I can get shaved raw coconut in bulk for a fairly cheap price (make sure it's not sweetened). The addition of boiling water and a little activity in a blender will give you preservative free coconut milk.

[saratc]

I get my coconut cream and coconut milk from Tropical Traditions. I believe they aren't in the stores -- I order online.

I usually get the Thai kitchen brand of coconut milk and never noticed the guar gum. I'll have to look more closely.

Depending on what you need coconut milk for, you can mix the coconut cream with water to get coconut milk. It works for recipes where the coconut milk is being mixed with a bunch of stuff; doesn't work well where the coconut milk is an integral part of a drink recipe. I've really cut down buying canned coconut milk after I bought coconut cream.

[ChristieB]

For coconut milk, you can try this. It has no additives at all, but ds still had a slight reaction to it. I think the can is the problem (we don't eat anything else from a can, so we didn't know this). But if the can is OK for you, this should work. If you order enough things to bring your order to $25, you get free shipping. Just be aware, though, that this company also makes an organic coconut milk that has guar gum in it, so only get the "natural" (in case you see it in the store).

I also use the coconut cream concentrate from Tropical Traditions to make "milk" for baking, and sometimes mix it into my homemade milk for making ice cream. I use much more than the directions call for, though. Otherwise it's super thin and watery. I also use a large scoop or two in main dishes that I
want to be a bit "creamy". It's not the same as canned coconut milk,
or cream, but it's better than nothing. Mainly I like to use this like a nut butter. : So yummy!!

There is nothing on either label about peanuts, so I think they're OK in that regard.

I don't think you'll find coconut cream without any additives.

I make my own coconut milk. I cook up some water and
shredded coconut (a little more water than coconut) for a few hours.
The cooking extracts more of the coconut flavor and fat than just
blending with hot water. I do 2-4 quarts at a time, so that I can
freeze some. I then blend them together, in batches that the blender
can handle. I pour all the batches into a colander (sitting in a
large pot) that has small even holes all over (not one of those that
has the holes made into designs), and when there's a lot of coconut
mush in there I smash it down with a spoon until I get no more liquid
out. I usually need to pour the liquid into a second pot a few times
to keep the colander from sitting in too much liquid. I then pour
the milk through a strainer into glass jars. The strainer catches
the few little bits of coconut that made it through the colander
holes. I don't pour it through the strainer to begin with, because
all the mashing would break the strainer pretty quickly, plus the
colander can hold more. Anyway, this makes a pretty nice milk. Not
quite as thick and creamy as the canned, but not watery and it has a
nice flavor, and it's something ds can tolerate.

BTW, I use the TT shredded coconut. It's already very finely
shredded, and it has a nice flavor. I always buy plenty when it's on
sale or when they have free shipping.

For coconut oil, we have used Spectrum (just goes to show how tastes differ -- we really didn't like that one), Tropical Traditions, Nutiva and Garden of Life (on vacation), and now we use Mountain Rose Herbs. We like them all. They all have a slightly different flavor. When we first started using CO, I used the refined for a lot of things and the unrefined where we didn't mind (or where we figured we wouldn't mind, since really we never minded it anywhere) the coconut flavor. Now I use all unrefined, because we either don't mind the flavor, have gotten used to it, or it really doesn't affect the flavor in many dishes (not sure which ). I would imagine that most CO isn't cross-contaminated, but check labels to make sure. And if you get to the point of wanting to order larger quantities, you can ask the place where you want to order from (like TT or Mountain Rose Herbs).

It can sub for butter in most recipes. There are a few recipes where I prefer to use Palm Shortening (pie crust and some cookies), but that's a preference thing. The flavor is not the same, but it's very good anyway. I'm sure the nutrition isn't the same. They each have their unique qualities. For the nutrition, I'd use ghee (and I do!), or if you can't even handle that, I'd save chicken or beef fat and use that. They don't have the same nutritional qualities of butter, either, but they have properties the CO won't have. I use some of each, honestly. Butter is good for you if you can tolerate it, but if you can't it's just not worth it.

[ChristieB]

Originally Posted by kjbrown92

Thank you, thank you. Sort of. Guar gum? I didn't see that on the label when I got it. I bought some organic coconut milk at Whole Foods yesterday -- I had been getting Trader Joe's but it is lowfat, and I wanted to try making my yogurt with full fat coconut milk, so I got this one. My daughter can't have GUAR GUM. I would not even have looked at it again before I made the yogurt, so thank you for making me look at the label again. Now I have 6 cans of the stuff that I can't use. ARGH. And I have to go on a search again. What a pain. I can't seem to get away from additives!
Kathy

I'm so sorry!! If I knew you were trying to avoid the additives I wouldn't have suggested the Thai Kitchen. If that's the case, I would try making yogurt with homemade coconut milk, instead of the TJ's. It would still need more gelatin, and I don't how well the gelatin would work (same with the TJ's, though), but it would be a better quality, and it could always be used in smoothies or something.

ETA: or you could try the Natural Value from Amazon. It is thicker than the TJ or homemade, so might make a good yogurt.

[thedomesticdiva]

So guar gum is bad?
thanks
It seems that every day I add something to the "do not eat" list.

As for the oil - I really like the Garden of Life, but i buy Tropical Traditions GOLD because i think it is less processed, and I think Spectrum is gross. Funny how we all have so many opinions...

[ChristieB]

Originally Posted by thedomesticdiva

So guar gum is bad?
thanks
It seems that every day I add something to the "do not eat" list.

For most folks it's processed, but otherwise not so bad. But there are some who really can't tolerate it. Same with xanthan gum (different foods, but same issues).

[quietserena]

For coconut oil, can't beat MRH for the price.

[kjbrown92]

Two of my kids can't do any legumes, and guar gum is a legume. I found out when I got the Rice Dream Ice Cream (vanilla) which has guar gum. I don't have anything against guar gum in general. Though I don't like additives in general, especially where they're really not needed. It's like the food companies think a LONGER ingredient list is better! Not.

[dannic]

Some of us use the guar gum and xanthum gum as thickeners in GF cooking, but yeah, just like anything else--some people can't tolerate even these...I live rurally and Thai Kitchen is even in my local grocery store, so that's what we use...where do you get the shredded coconut meat to make your own milk? I would be interested in that!

[ChristieB]

I get it from Tropical Tradtions. What they call "shredded" is cut very fine. Their "flaked" is a lot like the store bought shredded, but not sweetened. And the "chips" are like what you get in trail mix. Here is their description, pictures, and pricing.

TT often has sales, and they send out an email about weekly informing customers of the sales. I hardly ever buy anything of theirs that's on sale, unless they have free shipping that week. I'm a Healthy Buyers Club member, which gives special bulk prices and occasional free shipping, plus a cap on the ground shipping (won't go over $20 no matter how much I order). It's definitely worth it if you buy a lot from them. Otherwise, try for their sales.

[quietserena]

Also, TT has that coconut cream concentrate that you can make milk with. On the jar it says to just dissolve it in some water.

I haven't cooked anything needing coconut milk in a while but I oughta try this..