Homemade Coconut Milk

Since I had a whole coconut that the girls weren't going to eat I decided to try something a little different and make coconut milk.

First you put the coconut pieces into a food processor and chop them up into small bits. I had never actually used the food processor mom had given me, so this step took me the longest since I couldn't figure out how to use it and mom had to talk me through via the phone. I also ended up spraying chopped coconut all over the kitchen, but if you know how to use your food processor, this step would be fairly easy.

After you get all the coconut chopped into pieces you then blend it with very hot water. You add just enough water to cover the coconut. I only have an immersion blender, so I had to do mine in small batches.

When you get done, this is what you have.

It has a lot of chunky coconut in it, so it has to be strained.

The next step can be done by either letting it strain through a cheese cloth or putting it through a juicer. Since I have a juicer and not a cheese cloth, I used that, but I think a cheese cloth would actually work better, since I still had to put it through a sieve because the juicer left it kind of grainy tasting.

I ended up with a little over two cups of coconut milk. I thought it tasted pretty good, but Lucy didn't like it.


I also ended up with a cup and a half of dry, finely shredded coconut that can be used for cooking.

And here is a picture of Lucy because she spent the whole time begging for me to take her picture.

If we drank a lot of coconut milk I think I would make it this way because it only took about 20 minutes and that includes the time spent trying to work the food processor. We don't, so I probably won't do this again, but I am going to freeze the coconut milk and put it in smoothies or maybe make a vegan chocolate pudding out of it.