I have one can of Native Forest left

Here is all the contact info from the can:

Dist. by Edward & Sons Trading Co., Inc.
Box 1326 Carpinteria, CA 93014
www.edwardandsons.com

Certified organic by QAI, USA
www.qai-inc.com

Product of Thailand

If you do get answers to your questions, could you post them please?

 

Huh. I read some of the ingredients: sodium metabisulfite, citric acid, carboxymethylcellulose, polysorbate.... I've never bought canned coconut milk with these preservatives before, yuck.

So how bad is guar gum? That's the only thing besides coconut milk in the Thai Kitchen Organic coconut milk...I think...

 

Quote:

Originally Posted by dogmom327 I have one can of Native Forest left Here is all the contact info from the can: Dist. by Edward & Sons Trading Co., Inc. Box 1326 Carpinteria, CA 93014 www.edwardandsons.com Certified organic by QAI, USA www.qai-inc.com Product of Thailand If you do get answers to your questions, could you post them please?

Thanks! And yes, I'll post them as I get them.

 

So far, I've emailed Thai Kitchen, Native Forest (edwardandsons) & Whole Foods Market. I'm not going to email the other two because of the preservatives.

 

Guar gum is a thickener like arrowroot starch or xanthan gum.
I use it in all my baking as we're gf and i have no other choice.

UNFORTUNATELY I just read this "Toxic Substances Control Act
Guar gum is listed in the Toxic Substances Control Act (TSCA) Chemical Substances Inventory under CAS Registry Number 9000-30-0. For more information, please see Procol® Guar Gum Toxic Substance Control Act. "
See here and may be derived from GMO plants.

OH JOY!!!

Liz

 

Quote:

Originally Posted by dachshundqueen Guar gum is a thickener. No big deal, like arrowroot starch or xanthan gum. I use it in all my baking as we're gf and i have no other choice. Liz

Cool, thanks.

Do you know where it comes from? I have some food allergies as well.

 

please see my above edited post.

i am not aware of og guar gum being avail to consumers.

This is what I buy.

Liz

 

Have any of you heard of Tropical Traditions Coconut Cream concentrate? It's organic: http://www.tropicaltraditions.com/co...oncentrate.htm

Apparently, you can add a couple of teaspoons to water to get coconut 'milk', without preservatives & thickeners. And, the cream comes in a glass jar so no BPA leaching. I just bought some and can't wait to see if works.

 

Quote:

Originally Posted by isaoma Have any of you heard of Tropical Traditions Coconut Cream concentrate? It's organic: http://www.tropicaltraditions.com/co...oncentrate.htm

Ooo... please let us know how this is! Also let us know what the recipe amounts are (does the quart jar make the equivalent of 6 cans of coconut milk, or 20?). We go through a lot of coconut milk, and I would love to find one without BPA... organic, no additives and less packaging is a bonus!

 

Quote:

Originally Posted by dachshundqueen UNFORTUNATELY I just read this "Toxic Substances Control Act Guar gum is listed in the Toxic Substances Control Act (TSCA) Chemical Substances Inventory under CAS Registry Number 9000-30-0. For more information, please see Procol® Guar Gum Toxic Substance Control Act. " See here and may be derived from GMO plants. OH JOY!!! Liz

This is comforting:

Carcinogenesis Bioassay of Guar Gum (CAS No. 9000-30-0) in F344 Rats and B6C3F1 Mice (Feed Study)


Guar Gum in the EPA's Substance Registry System.

The only off-putting info I found was this paragraph about the powder:

Quote:

Summary/Abstract: A SMALL GROUP OF WORKERS EXPOSED TO GUAR WERE STUDIED BY A UNIVERSITY GROUP TO DETERMINE IF THE CHEMICAL INDUCED ALLERGIC SENSITIZATION. THE STUDY WAS INCONCLUSIVE, BUT THE HYPOTHESIS IS STILL VIABLE; ABOUT 50% OF THE WORKERS EXHIBITED PERSISTENT SYMPTOMS AND MANY HAVE REDUCED LUNG FUNCTION AS REPORTED.

And organic guar gum IS available! I wish I had asked about this before I emailed the 3 companies....I'll have to ask if/when they respond to my inquiries.

 

Quote:

Originally Posted by isaoma Have any of you heard of Tropical Traditions Coconut Cream concentrate? It's organic: http://www.tropicaltraditions.com/co...oncentrate.htm Apparently, you can add a couple of teaspoons to water to get coconut 'milk', without preservatives & thickeners. And, the cream comes in a glass jar so no BPA leaching. I just bought some and can't wait to see if works.

Oh, I meant to respond to this:

I just bought a block of Let's Do Organic coconut cream concentrate - comes as a block in a sealed plastic package & it was NASTY! It reeked of & tasted like plastic, I ended up throwing out my porridge this morning.

The consistency was pretty poor too.

Maybe the jarred stuff would be tastier? I don't think I'd spend the money on it after my experience, but to each his own.

 

the tropical traditions concentrate is absolutely divine! it could be eaten alone as a dessert and I am not easily fooled by "natural" desserts but this stuff is seriously a gift to have. its like 20$ for a pint i think, so pricey but if you have an extra 20$ i would invest it in this stuff. i have used it in cooking curries with great sucess but the best way to use it is to eat it strait from the jar, spoon in hand.

wiat I just looked and its only 14$ for a pint!

 

Quote:

Originally Posted by isaoma Have any of you heard of Tropical Traditions Coconut Cream concentrate? It's organic: http://www.tropicaltraditions.com/co...oncentrate.htm Apparently, you can add a couple of teaspoons to water to get coconut 'milk', without preservatives & thickeners. And, the cream comes in a glass jar so no BPA leaching. I just bought some and can't wait to see if works.

I use this! It is wonderful! I add it to a lot of things also... I love tropical traditions. I buy my CO through them.

 

The TT CCC didn't work for me either. I love the idea, but it had a taste that didn't sit well. I am going to order another jar and try it because I love the idea that much but it's not going to happen for another little while. I just blew some money on MRH gallon of CO.

 

I *finally* got a response, first one so far, from Thai Kitchen:

Quote:

Thank you for your email to Simply Asia Foods. The can for the Thai Kitchen Organic Coconut Milk does have BPA in it. The levels observed have not exceeded any government standards and all of our containers comply with the standards for food contact packaging. Conclusions of comprehensive evaluations of the safety of Bisphenol A conducted by independent government and scientific bodies worldwide have, in every case, supported the safe use of BPA. Please let me know if you have any other questions and have a great day! ***** Consumer Relations Simply Asia Foods

 

Oh I almost forgot, I *did* get a response from WF:

Quote:

Dear ****, Some of the canned products sold in our stores may have small amounts of bisphenol-a in the lining material. We are actively assessing the safety of the packaging materials used in our stores, as we are committed to helping our customers protect themselves and their families and as such are concerned about the growing body of research which connects BPA and other estrogenic compounds to certain health effects. Although the U.S. Food and Drug Administration has said that such materials are appropriate and safe, we are currently evaluating certain products and packaging materials on a variety of criteria, including endocrine activity, toxicity, recyclability and functionality. Our goal is to help our customers avoid endocrine active materials in products and packaging where functional alternatives exist. We are staying on top of the latest academic research regarding the endocrine activity of substances present in plastics, including BPA. When appropriate, we have stopped the sale of certain products and/or provided information to our customers about the products. For example, as of January 2006 we stopped selling baby bottles and child drinking cups made from polycarbonate plastic or other plastics with added phthalates because of the emerging scientific evidence on their risk. We have begun the process of examining the plastic packaging materials we use to package foods in our stores, and are working with a leading testing firm to design a laboratory test to accurately assess the endocrine activity of these materials. We will continue to search for the safest and most functional packaging materials for our stores. Thank you for your comments, please let us know if we can help you with anything else. ***** ******* Private Label Whole Foods Market 550 Bowie Street Austin, TX 78703 phone: 512.542.0169 fax: 512.482.7169

I'll have to email Native Forest again.

 

Here's another brand for you to consider. Natural Value. Their natural coconut milk (as opposed to their organic) has no additives at all, including no guar gum or xanthan gum. Their contact info (from the can) is NaturalVal@aol.com or fax 916-427-3784. Their website is www.naturalvalue.com. I suspect that their cans are just as bad as anyone else's, but you can contact them. We ordered a case, since the co-op doesn't sell it, and figured we'd try it with ds, who can't eat any coconut milk from a can. We thought that without additives it would be OK, and it's certainly better than others with additives, but he still reacted. So, there's something about cans that he reacts to.

The TT CCC is really good stuff, and tastes great straight out of the jar (it's like a nut butter, but made from coconut). I use it mostly for snacks

but also for curries. I also mix it with water, but usually in larger amounts than they say, to make coconut milk if I need it for baking. For things like a cream sauce, or custard, or ice cream, or chai, I make my own. I've found that I can make a pretty nice coconut milk for these uses. Ds doesn't like the milk made from the CCC. Personally, I don't think it's bad, but it's not great, either. It has a taste that I don't really want in my coconut milk, as good as it is as a spread or other snack. That taste doesn't show up in curries or baked goods, but things where it's the main flavor, I prefer the "purer" taste of the coconut milk that I make.

Now, in terms of ice cream, I do sometimes "enrich" the milk I make with the CCC. When I do this, I like to leave some lumps on purpose. Small lumps of it in the finished product are very nice. Dh thinks they're kind of like little chocolate chips.

 

Trader Joe's brand coconut milk doesn't have the additives/preservatives in it. However, it is labeled "lite" so it also may not have as much of the good oils in it. It tastes quite good.

 

You could make your own... I found a "recipe" here.

 

Quote:

Originally Posted by melissa17s You could make your own... I found a "recipe" here.

Btdt, it was *such* a PITA.

 

Quote:

Originally Posted by Metasequoia Btdt, it was *such* a PITA.

Did you use fresh or dried coconut? I find that if I use the CCC to make a milk for baking and cooking, then I don't need as much homemade coconut milk and I can keep up without much problem. I also make about 2 quarts at a time, and I freeze one. I use dried coconut. I haven't even felt like attempting using a fresh coconut. And I simmer the coconut (on a really low heat) in the water for a few hours before blending it. I find this makes a better, creamier coconut milk. And it extracts more of the coconutty goodness from the coconut.

 

I have the Chaokoh coconut milk 13.5 fl oz. Contains:
coconut extract, water, citric acid (as antioxidant) sodium metabisulfite (as preservative).

Thailand.

 

I buy raw coconut cream, put it in a blender with some purified water and blend it. Adjust the ratio to the thickness you like. If this was not available, I would order TT coconut cream.

I have seen a few recipes for coconut milk, but they are too much work and I am already totally overloaded.

 

I use Aroy-D. Their email is marketing@thaiagri.com. Ingredients: Coconut milk 55%, water, potassium metabisulphite (E224) as preservative. The top half of the can is filled with the coconut cream. I can't use the ones with guar gum because 2 of my kids can't do any legumes. I've been making coconut milk yogurt with it. The Trader Joe's one (lite) never worked for me. I use it in a lot of baking too. Are you going to tell me it's bad for me too?

 

I've never found a canned coconut milk that I really loved the flavor of, unfortunately. I tried using coconut cream concentrate with water, but didn't like the graininess that resulted. Plus it didn't have that "fresh" coconut flavor that I love. So I make my own.
I have a coconut shredder, so the whole thing takes me about 15 minutes. I drain the liquid, crack open the coconut (this takes about 30 seconds over the sink of done properly), shred the meat, blend with 1 1/2 cups of hot water, and strain through a muslin bag.
http://www.culinaryexotica.com/cocgratin.html

I've also found coconut milk and cream in the freezer section at a local Korean grocery. There is one brand (don't remember the name) that didn't have any added sugar or preservatives, but a lot of the other brands do, so read the labels carefully if you go that route.